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CiUATlM.AliA, 



OK, THE 



UNITED PROVINCES OF 

IN 1827-8; 



BEING 



^Utttfitn atntr JHeiworaniJWiw?^ 



MADE DURING 



A TWELVE MONTHS' RESIDENCE 



IN THAT REPUBLIC. 



BY HENRY DUNN 



NEW YORK: 
G. & 0, CARVILL, BROADWAY 

1828. 




fi 




Southern Distiict of JS'civ lo-rk, as. 

BE IT REMEMBERED, That ou the tiiiriy-rirst day oi 
July A. D. 1828, in the fifty third year of the Independence of the 
United States of America, G. & C. Carvill of the said District, have de- 
posited in this office the title of a Book, the right whereof they claim as 
proprietors, in the words following, to wit : 

" Guatimala, or the United Provinces of Central America, in 1827-8 ; 
being Sketches and Memorandums made during a twelve months' re- 
sidence in that Republic, by Henrit Dunn." 

In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled " An 
Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, 
Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during 
the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, entitled " an Act, 
supplementary to an act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of Learn- 
ing, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors 
and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and 
extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, erigraving, and 
etching historical and other prints." 

FRED. J. BETTS, 
Clerk of the Southern District of JS''ero York. 



Printed by Vanderpool & Cole. 



f 1 A^ ^•^'*' 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 

Jmirney from England to the City of Gucitimala, by thr 
hay of Honduras. 

CHAPTER T. 

Voyage,~Sunset,— Night at Sea,--West India Is- 
lands,— Jamaica, — English Quay ^ 

CHAPTER n. 

Belize, — Population, — Government, — Commerce, — 
Soil,— Climate,— Diseases,~Emigration. . U 

CHAPTER III. 

Black Population,— Character,— Amusements,— Mo- 
i-als,- Inhabitants of the Mosquito Shore,— Coro- 
nation of their King,— Customs, &c 19 

CHAPTER IV. 

Voyage to Yzabal,— Quays,— Settlements,— Coast 
of Yucatan,— Rio Dulce,— Pirates,— Castillo del 
Golfo -^0 

CHAPTER V. 

Yzabal,— Mountain of Mico,— Indians,— Character of 
these Aborigines. — Superstitions,— Iguana. . . . 38 "^ 



CHAPTER M. * 

Iguana, — Gualan.—Town.-Morals. — Customs, — luio- 
lerance. — Superstition, — Education, — Prison. &,c. 46 

CHAPTER VH. 

San Pablo, — Ampii, — Simplicity of the Inhabitants. 
Chinialapa.— Sulphureous Springs, — Entrance into 
Guatimala 54 



PART II. 

T/ir Citi/. — Its JIanuers. Customs, tfc. — Fopulatioti. — 
Police. — floral and Religious State. cSh\ c\«r. 



CHAPTER 1. 

Former Sites of the City. — Its present Situation and 
advantages. — Public Buildings, — Streets, — Houses, 
Arc tv^ 

CHAPTER H. 

Customs and Planners. — Tobacco, — Morning Calls. — 
Occupations of a domestic Man, — Scenes in the 
Pla^a, — Evening Parties. — Gambling, — Supersti- 
tions. — Marriages and Funerals. — Almoneda or 
Auction 7(i 

V CHAPTER HI. 

Population. — Its characteristics. — Public Morals, — 
Police, — Political ollences. — Prison, — Lawsuits, — 
Education.— Schools, vtc 90 

CHAPTER IV. 

Amusements, — Theatre, — Bull Fights,— Literature,— 
Newspapers, — Booksellers.— Fine Arts. ttc. . . lOfi 



(JOXTKN'J'? 



CHAPTER V. 

Religious Processions, — Masked Dancers, — Clergy 
Regular and Secular, — Ecclesiastical Quarrels, — 
Low state of true Piety, — Extracts from a Journal. 112 

CHAPTER VI. 

Climate, — Temperature, — Rainy Season, — Thunder 

Storms, — Earthquakes, — Debility, — Diseases, 

Small Pox 143 

CHAPTER VII. 

Suburbs, — Villages, — Bee Hives, — Cochineal Planta- 
tions, — Grazing Farms, — Bathing Places, — Trip to 
the Antiffua or old Guatimala 156 



PART TIL 

History of the Revolution,— Trade and Commerce, — Sketch 
of Natural History, — Aboriginal Inhabitants. 



CHAPTER I. 

State of Guatimala before the Revolution, — Causes 
which produced that Event*, — Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, — Junction with Mexico, — General Con- 
gress, — Publication of the Constitution, — Resour- 
ces, — Struggle between the Aristocracy and the 
People, — Financial diifficulties, — War of San Sal- 
vador, — Resignation of the President, — Probable 
results 167 

CHAPTER II. 

Early Commerce, — Manufactures, — Harvests of Indi- 
go, — Cochineal,— Tobacco, — Sugar, — Balsams, — 
Cotton, — Coffee, — Hides. — Productions of the dif- 



I o:iTi;.\ r 



lereut States, — Mine?., — Corpus, — Tabanco, — Im- 
ports and Exports, — Ports of the North,— Roads, — 
River Pol ichic, — Ports of the South Sea, — Tndepen- 
dencia. — Impediments to Commercial Prosperity . i20(» 

CHAPTER III. 

Natural History,— Productions, — Physical Geography, 
Rivers and Lalves, — Diseases, — Idiotcy. . . . 24(i 

CHAPTER IV. 

Aboriginal Population, — Conquests of Alvarado, — 
Utatlan, — Palaces &c. of the King of Quiche, — 
Languages, — Establishment of the Roman Reli- 
gion, — Las Casas and the Dominicans, — Popula- 
tion, — Employment, — Mode of Life and Customs, 
Taxes, — Physiognomy, — Bodily Construction, — 
Mental Capacities, — Means of Civilization. . . 258 



PART IV. 

Journey from tJie Capital to the shores of the Faeifir. 



CHAPTER I. 

A Party of Pleasure, — Ymi to a Grazing Farm, — 
Views, — Taking of Cattle by the Lazo, — Medical 
Men, — Value of Labour ''384 

CHAPTER H. 

Vale of Petapa, — Lake of Amatitan, — Falls of San 
Pedro Martyr, — Escuintla, — Salt works, &c. . . 297 

CHAPTER HI. 

Bai* of Istapa, — Fisheries, — Vampyres, — Rock of Mi- 
randilla, — Alotenango, — Almolonga, — The two 
Volcanoes, — Ascent of the Water Volcano. . . 309 



PREFACE- 



-;»->■©-«" ' 



The tbliowing sketches have been published 
chiefly from the conviction that Central America 
is in great measure unknown ground. 

In order to insure the correct statement of his- 
torical events, the author requested the late Bri- 
tish Consul, as w^ell as the Consul General of 
the Low Countries, to examine his MS. The 
former was occupied in doing it a few days be- 
fore the melancholy event happened which occa- 
sioned his death ; and to the friendship of the 
latter gentleman, in whose company he made the 
tour, which forms the last part of his book, the 
author is indebted for many valuable communi- 
cations. 

He is aware that there are individuals who will ■ 
complain of his work not being more exclusively 
religious. To such he can only reply that piety 
\vas intended to sanctify, not to exclude the busi- 
ness of the world ; and in his opinion, in order to 
do good in any country, it is necessary to know 
it, not merely in a moral and religious point ol 
view, but politically and statistically. 



Vlll TREFACE. 

Considerable trouble has been taken in order to 
procure a map for insertion, but after a careful 
examination of all those which have yet been 
published, the idea has been laid aside, because it 
was found impossible to obtain one, which on ac- 
count of numerous and important errors, was not 
more calculated to mislead than to inform. 



:'^<* 



PART I* 

JOURNEY FROM ENGLAND TO THE CITY OF NEW 
CJUATIMALA BY THE BAY OF HONDURAS. 



CHAPTER/ I. 

Voyage to the Bay of Honduras, — Sun set,— 
Night at sea, — West India Islands^— Jamaica, 
— English Quay. 

A FAVOURABLE vojage across the Atlantic can- 
not of necessity be very rich in incident. Each 
succeeding day bears the features of its predeces- 
sor, and its events are only varied by perhaps a 
sail in the distance, or the appearance of some 
one of the various inhabitants of the deep. In 
the absence of all the artificial excitements of so- 
ciety every object acquires an interest, and the 
wonders of nature in one department at least are 
for a time rescued from the neglect to which they 
are generally condemned. 

After losing sight of the shores of England, 
if the winds be favourable, the voyager soon 
finds himself rolling in the restless bay of Bis- 
cay. We entered it in the month of January. 

2 



10 

Its dark blue waves heaved heavily — a few wan- 
dering sea gulls roamed over the face of the 
deep, and the sun beamed upon the waters with 
a warmer and a brighter ray. 

From hence to the Islands the traveller must con- 
tent himself with the few objects of natural history, 
which present themselves. To watch the grampus, 
the porpoise, or perhaps the great white shark 
playing around the vessel and darting before its 
bow as if offering to guide its course through the 
trackless deep, are the daily amusements of every 
landsman in these seas ; and with a few flocks of 
stormy petrels, a wandering albatross, or that most 
beautiful of all the finny tribe the dorado, relent- 
lessly pursuing its unhappy victim the flying fish, 
they constitute almost the only novelties. 

But at sea the every day occurrences of nature 
seem to exhibit themselves in new forms, and ac- 
quire a freshness which clothes them with a new in- 
terest. Oftentimes will the sun set with a peculiar 
splendour, pouring a flood of glory over the whole 
horizon, and as he dips beneath the waters the re- 
flection of his beams clothe the western clouds in a 
thousand different hues, abundantly supplying to 
the fancy golden lakes and palaces adorned with 
all the magic tints of a fairy creation. Nor is 
night without its charms. A large vessel with all 
her sails set, gliding gently over the bosom of the 
ocean, her canvass scarcely swelled by the light 



11 

breeze, and her track illuminated by the faint 
phosphoric light of myriads of animalculae, is a 
most imposing sight ; while the awful stillness 
which prevails over the vast expanse of sea and 
sky, only broken by the light splash of the white 
billows against the sides of their disturber, seems 
sufficient to calm the most agitated spirit. 

At length however new objects present them- 
selves, and the cry of " Land" awakens curiosity. 
With us it announced Colon's Deseada or the de- 
sired island. The appearance of this little spot is 
rocky and uninviting, and it is almost uninhabited. 
The next morning at sunrise we were amongst the 
islands and close to Montserrat, one of the most 
beautiful of them ; its western side declines gently 
towards the sea and is covered with fruitful 
plantations, while the cedar and palm shade and 
adorn its mountains. How lamentable that nine 
tenths of its inhabitants should be slaves. — From 
this point Antigua, Nevis, St. Kitts and Guada- 
loupe, are seen faintly exhibiting their outlines on 
the horizon, and the whole forms a striking and 
not uninteresting picture. 

A few more days and we had passed the 
south side of the island of Jamaica. Its ap- 
pearance from the sea is singularly romantic: 
blue mountains encircled by clouds and clothed 
with verdure to the very summits form the 
back ground, while richly cultivated sugar 



12 

l)laiitations interspersed with the cedar and cocoa 
nut, Hne the hills and spread along the shore. 
Nature here at once presents herself in her forms 
of wild sublimity and luxuriant beauty. 

The third of March brought us in sight of Eng- 
lish Quay, one of those beautiful httle islands 
which adorn the entrance to the bay of Honduras ; 
and by the afternoon of that day we had anchored 
in Belize roads. 



CHAPTER II. 

Belize^—'Population^—Govern'mentf-Commerce^ 
— Soil^ — Insects^ — Climate^ — Diseases^ — Emi" 
gration^ 

The view of the town from the roadstead is in- 
teresting, and some parts of it highly picturesque. 
Its principal street stretches along the shore for 
a considerable distance, and consists of tolerably 
good houses built of wood, the lower stories occu- 
pied as stores and the upper as dwellings : cocoa 
nut trees interspersed among the buildings relieve 
the prospect, and give to the whole the character 
of West Indian scenery. The bay derives its 
chief interest from the number of pleasure boats 
doreys and pit pans, passing and repassing on its 
still waters. The latter, a species of long narrow 
canoe propelled by paddles, are novel to an Eu- 
ropean eye. 

This settlement contains between five and 
6000 souls,* consisting of about 2400 slaves, 

* From a census taken in the year 1827 the population of Belize ia as • 
follows. 

Males. Females. | 

Whites 267, Whites 65 ] 

Coloured 585, Coloured 452 | 

Free Negroes 1044, Free Negroes 374 ] 

Slaves 1606, Slaves 804 

3502 1695 

Tropps 456, 



14 

1400 tree negroes, 1000 coloured Creoles, and trom 
:J to 100 whites. 

The slaves are chiefly employed up the ri- 
vers in the cutting and trucking of mahogany, 
and are generally well treated. Their own- 
ers are probably afraid of harshness from the 
many opportunities the negroes have of escaping 
to the neighbouring Guatimalian territory and 
becoming free.* The tree negroes are only re- 
markable for their excessive indolence and pride. 
The moral eflects of slavery are but too visible 
in their character. The coloured Creoles of the 
country, descendants of Eiu'opeans by African 
women, carry on mechanical trades, or keep small 
stores in tlio back streets. Many of these possess 
considerable property. The white population 
consists of merchants and their clerks, and of 
individuals employed in civil or military capaci- 
ties by the governor. 

The internal regulations of the settlement are 
contidcd to the Superintendent appointed by his 



* Since the Revolutioa in Guatimala from one to two hnndred slaves 
haTe abscoi^deil from their masters and taken reftige in the American ter- 
ritory. Their o-wners have repeatedlv applied to the Goremment of the 
Republic iu order that ther may be jiren up, but alter several debates in 
Coiijrress the rev^ueit has be^'n refusexi. Puttins: the rigrhts of humanity 
out ol" the question, it seems dimonlt to reconcile suci a demand with the 
common pritKiples of reciprocity amon* nations. So lonj as Vjigiand 
maiutaias the noble principle that to breathe British air is to be free, any 
other uatio^n not caiv has a ri^ht but honours herseli" by fmowing the exam- 
pie. It IS uee>lless to add thst the application was nerer safictioDed by 
the n>Tenua«[it at home. 



15 

Britannic majesty and seven magistrates annually 
elected by the settlers. The market is generally 
ill supplied. The want of energy is so great 
that although every kind of fruit and vegetables 
would grow almost spontanteously, there is often 
a considerable scarcity. Turtle is procured in 
abundance, but like every thing else very dear. 

The trade of the place is considerable; em- 
ploying annually about 16000 tons of British 
shipping. The neighbouring Spanish provinces 
are supplied with British manufactures ; and 
cedar, fustic, hides, indigo, logwood, cochineal, 
mahogany, sarsaparilla, tortoise shell and specie 
are exported : commerce is also carried on with 
Omoa, Truxillo, and the Golfo Dulce. 

The soil is generally good, an abundance both of 
heat and moisture, favouring the putrefaction of a 
mass of organic substances, while it often proves 
the cause of disease, produces a stitf deep loam, 
capable of bringing to perfection all kinds of Eu- 
ropean vegetables, as well as the productions of 
the torrid zone. The difficulty of obtaining la- 
bourers is the only obstacle to the production of 
every thing calculated to administer to the com- 
forts or luxuries of life. " The cactus, upon the 
leaf of which the cochineal insect subsists, grows 
spontaneously in the woods ; the cotton tree, the 
indigo plant, the palmachristi or castor oil plant, 
and the sugar cane all thrive on the soil, and 



j night be cultivated advantageously." But the 
tree negro will not work. With a hook and line 
he can in half an hour provide sustenance for him- 
self and family for the day, and with this he is 
content. No stimulus will arouse him. He will 
undertake no employment but at an exorbitant 
rate of wages, and even then he is careless about 
finishing what he commences. 

Considerable quantities of land are covered with 
pine of a superior quality. Where these abound 
the soil is sandy and not so productive; it would, 
however, be well adapted to the cultivation of the 
cotfee plant. 

The neighbouring woods are rich in objects of 
natural history, and it is much to be regretted 
that a field which promises so much should so 
long have remained untrodden. 

Belize, like many other settlements similarly 
situated, abounds with insects, which by their 
number and venomous properties, become a com- 
plete pest. Swarms, or rather myriads of ants, 
darken every household utensil, and leave no cor- 
ner of any dwelling fi^ee from their intrusions ; 
hundreds of cockroaches (the Blafta Americana) 
appear in the evening, in almost every apart- 
ment : the very chambers of the houses are not fi-ee 
from the unwelcome visits of lizards, centipedes, 
and scorpions, to say nothing of the mosquito, or 
of that most firuitful of all the insect tribe, the 



14 



iiigus. This last diminutive little worm exercises 
its malignant powers chiefly upon the black popu- 
lation, who are always without shoes or stock- 
ings ; it enters the foot between the cutis and the 
cuticle, where it breeds with the greatest rapid- 
ity. The only remedy is to pick them out witli 
a needle, and pour oil into the wound. 

The climate is, on the whole, more favourable 
than that of the West India islands. The average 
heat is from 82^ to 85° Fahrenheit, in the shade. 

Europeans chiefly suflfer from remitting and in- 
termittent fevers, caused probably by the nume- 
rous swamps which surround the settlement. The 
ravages of small pox are not great, as vaccina- 
tion is now universally practised. In the year 
1826, great numbers of children were carried oft' 
by the measles, but this disease has not since that 
time made its appearance. Hooping cough pre- 
vails much among the younger part of the com- 
munity, and dysentery and rheumatism are not 
unfa'equent among the full grown negroes; yet, 
on the whole, they may be esteemed healthy, and 
sometimes attain to a great age. The strong sea 
breeze, which blows freely nine months in the year, 
contributes mainly to the health of the inhabitants. 

Still the heat is by far too great to make any 
part of this province desirable as a place for emi- 
gration ; and had the memorable cacique of Po- 
yais, M'Gregor, had any intention of colonizing, 

3 



18 

(which there is little reason to believe,) it is very 
problematical how far he could have succeeded. 
The miserable condition of the unhappy wretches 
who were deluded by his golden promises, is but 
too well known, and it is but justice to say, that 
they received, in the hour of their distress, every 
kindness from the settlers in Belize.* 

* The Poyais territory, where this adventurer talked of establishing his 
deluded followers, is not literally in the province of Honduras, but con- 
sists of unappropriated territory on the banks of the Rio Tinto, or Black 
River, which discharges itself into the Atlantic, near Cape Camaron. 
Since the failure of this expedition, it has been included in the tract of 
country claimed by the Columbians. 



CHAPTER III. 

Blade Population^ — Character^ — Amusements^ 
—Morals^ — State of Religion^ — Inhabitants 
of the Mosquito Shore, — Coronation of their 
King, — Customs, S^c. 

That slavery must necessarily have a lowering 
and degrading influence on the character of the 
slave is self-evident: but it is requisite to live 
among such, in order to know and feel the extent 
of the degradation. The moral effects of this 
evil, not the growth of a day or a year, but of 
ages, are so deep, as at first sight, almost to seem 
indelible. In proportion as the avarice of man 
has tightened the chain around his victim, has its 
degrading and depressing influence infused itself 
into his principles and habits, withered all his 
energies, and impeded the growth of every thing 
noble and elevated in his character. 

If any thing could lessen our sympathy in the 
unhappy fate of the negro, it would be to view hisj 
debasing character, apart from the causes which 
have induced it. Indolent and unprincipled, he willl 
never work, excepting when under the eye of aj 



2i) 

superior. Fawning in the extreme, when in dread 
of punishment, he is tyrannical and overbearing if 
clothed for a moment in temporary power. His 
only wisdom is a species of low cunning. His only 
virtues belong to the brute creation, — an instinc- 
tive love of his offspring, and a species of attach- 
ment to the tyrant who rules him. 

Nor is the freed African one degree raised in 
the scale of being. Under fewer restraints, his 
vices display themselves more disgustingly. Inso- 
lent and proud, indolent and a liar, he imitates only 
the sins of his superiors, and to the catalogue of his 
former crimes adds drunkenness and theft. 

Such is the poor child of Africa, after centuries 
of subjection to the enlightened sons of Europe. 
The thought of what he might have been, had the 
same efforts been used to improve, which have 
been exercised to degrade, makes one shudder at 
the awful responsibility of those who have made 
him what he is. 

The favourite amusement of the negroes here, 
as in other parts of the West Indies, is dancing. 
It surprises an European to observe the regularity 
with which these nightly entertainments are con- 
ducted ; the graceful step of the dancers to the 
sound of the gumby, the expensive refreshments 
provided, and the air of display that pervades the 
whole performance. The same passion manifests 
itself at their funerals, which are conducted in as 



21 

showy a style as possible. On these occasions 
they dress themselves in imitation of Europeans, 
and gratify their vanity by displaying all the 
finery they can raise. Their most joyous period 
is Christmas, when every slave claims a kind of 
temporary freedom for two or three weeks, and 
during this time, the settlement is in a state of 
riot. Dancing about the streets, night and day, 
is their chief employment till the accustomed 
period has elapsed ; during this season, the mili- 
tia, consisting of all the white inhabitants, is kept 
constantly under arms. 

Crimes of a serious nature are of rare occur- 
rence. The prison, which is large, and has its 
cells commodious and airy, is very thinly tenanted. 
In the month of March 1827, it contained only 
six or seven prisoners, confined for petty thefts, or 
similar trifling offences, and it is by no means 
uncommon to see its doors open. 

But although crimes which come under the 
cognizance of the law, are not frequent, the mo- 
ral state of the population is nevertheless at the 
lowest ebb. With few exceptions, the institution 
of marriage is totally disregarded. The coloured 
population, considered by the whites as a degra- 
ded caste, feel themselves shut out of European 
society, and consequently lose self respect. The 
females generally live in a state of concubinage 
with the whites, under the name of housekeepers, 



22 

and are singularly faithful to their keepers. The 
negroes follow the example of their superiors, 
and prostitution is universal. 

The lamentable consequences of such a state of 
things, must be visible to every one. Society in- 
stead of improving, degenerates, and an effectual 
bar is placed to the advancement of the coloured 
population. Alas, that the majority of our coun- 
trymen who visit these shores, should only come, 
like a moral pestilence, bringing with them the 
contagion of their example ! 

The provision for religious instruction is scanty. 
A church has been erected at an expense of 
£30,000 currency, and an incumbent appointed, 
whose salary is considerable. His talents are 
respectable ; but he is unfortunately one of those 
polished preachers, who 

" Never mention hell to ears polite." 

The Baptist and Wesleyan missionary societies 
have each stations here. A large chapel has been 
erected by the former, but to very little purpose. 
About 30 or 40 negroes, and three or four white 
residents, attend the services, which are conducted 
precisely the same as in England. There is a 
Sunday school attached to this place, and the 
names of many children are on the books, but not 
more than from 10 to 20 attend on an average. 
This station has already cost the society several 



23 

thousand pounds. The Wesieyan missionary has 
but just arrived, and at present has no/ congre- 
gation. 

The difficulties attendant on imparting rehgious 
instruction to the negroes are very great. Their 
language is a mixture of creole French and bro- 
ken English, and it is not easy to understand 
their meaning; while their mental indolence is 
so excessive, as to lead them freely to as- 
sent to every thing, whether understood or not.j 

The present condition of many of our mis- 
sionary stations, proves how greatly their com- 
mittees have erred in taking upon themselves the 
expense of permanent establishments, without first 
deputing some well qualified individual to visit 
the point they had fixed upon, and to make him- 
self well acquainted with the moral character 
and peculiar circumstances, both of the native 
population and European residents. This species 
of information (as needful, under such circum- 
stances, as a knowledge of its consumption is to 
a merchant who establishes a commercial house) 
would enable them not only to choose peculiar 
men for peculiar stations, but in some degree to 
judge of the prudence of the plans their agent 
may be pursuing. 

Connected with the established church is a free 
school, conducted on Dr. Bell's system, in which 
the Scriptures are read, but it is in a wretched 



M 

state. Not more than 50 attend, and these very 
irregularly, although 120 are stated as the num- 
ber of scholars. There is also an auxiliary of the 
Bartlett's Buildings Society, but excepting in the 
compilation of an annual report, the labours of its 
committee are unheard of. No census has been 
taken of the number of individuals able to read 
or write, nor is it possible to say what number of 
copies of the Scriptures are in circulation, but 
there is every reason to suppose they are few. 

Besides the negro and the Creole, the Carib, 
the Indian, and the Mosquito man are fre- 
quently met with in BeHze. 

The Caribs, formerly inhabitants of the most 
easterly islands, are now found principally about 
Truxillo and Omoa, whither they were removed 
by the Spaniards. They are chiefly employed by 
the mahogany cutters up the rivers, and are little 
removed from barbarism. 

The Indians mostly come from the interior, 
with letters and messages, which commissions 
they execute with the greatest fidelity. 

The Mosquito men arrive in considerable 
numbers from the Mosquito Shore, which com- 
prises the eastern part of the provinces of Hon- 
duras and Nicaragua. They possess great mus- 
cular strength, and a fine symmetry. Their tall 
and erect forms, little concealed by covering, 
their vacant countenances and long greasy hair. 



25 

sive them a wild and savage appearance, and 
strikingly portray the powerful barbarian. 

These people now consider themselves under the 
protection of the British government, and some 
of their kings have been educated in Jamaica.* 
On the accession of the last king to the throne 
he expressed a wish to be crowned at Belize, and 
orders were received by his Britannic majesty's ^ 
superintendent to gratify his wish, and to defray 
all attendant expenses. 

From a friend I have received some parti-^ 
culars of the ceremony. On the previous even^ 
ing, cards of invitation were sent to the different 
merchants, requesting their attendance at the 
court house early in the morning. At this place, 
the king, dressed in a British major's uniform, 
made his appearance ; and his chiefs, similarly 
clothed, but with sailors' trowsers, were ranged 
around the room. A more motley group can 
scarcely be imagined. Here an epaulette deco- 
rated a herculean shoulder, tempting its dignified 
owner to view his less favoured neighbour with 
triumphant glances. There a wandering button 



* This tract of country is now claimed by the Colombian government, 
an(3, by a decree, issued in July, 1824, all foreigners are forbidden to colo- 
' nize, without the permission of the republic. By a convention, made be- 
tween Great Britain and Spain, in 1786, his Britannic majesty agrees to 
evacuate all this coast, but as the Indians still show the same inveterate dis- 
like to the Spaniards, as formerly, they are permitted to consider them- 
selves under the protection of England, 



26 

displayed a greasy olive skin, under the uniform 
of a captain of infantry. On one side, a cau- 
tious noble might be seen, carefully braced up to 
the chin, like a modern dandy, defying the most 
penetrating eye to prove him shirtless ; while 
the mathematical movements of a fourth, pant- 
ing under such tight habiliments, expressed the 
fear and trembling with which he awaited some 
awful accident. 

The order of the procession being arranged, 
the cavalcade moved towards the church ; his 
Mosquito majesty on horseback, supported, on 
the right and left, by the two senior British offi- 
cers in the settlement, and his chiefs following 
on foot, two by two. On its arrival, his majesty 
was placed in a chair, near the altar, and the 
English coronation service was read by the chap- 
lain to the colony, who, on this occasion, per- 
formed the part of the archbishop of Canterbury. 
When he arrived at that part of the service, 
where it is written, " And all the people said. Let 
the king hve for ever, long live the king, God save 
the king," the vessels in the port, according to 
previous signal, fired salutes, and the chiefs, 
rising, cried out. Long live king Robert ! 

His majesty seemed chiefly occupied in admi- 
ring his finery, and, after the anointing, expressed 
his gratification,^ by repeatedly thrusting his hands 
through his thick bushy hair, and applying his 



27 

fingers to his nose! in this expressive manner, 
indicating his dehght at this part of the service. 
Before, however, the chiefs could swear alle- 
giance to their monarch, it was necessary they 
should profess Christianity, and, accordingly, 
(with shame be it recorded,) they were baptized j/^': 
" in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost." They displayed the most 
total ignorance of the meaning of the ceremony, 
and when asked to give their names, took the 
titles of lord Rodney, lord Nelson, or some other 
celebrated officer, and seemed grievously disap- 
pointed when told they could only be baptized by 
simple Christian names. 

After this solemn mockery had been concluded, 
the whole assembly adjourned to a large school 
room, to eat the coronation dinner, where the 
usual healths were drank, and these poor crea- 
tures all intoxicated with rum ! a suitable con- 
clusion to a farce as blasphemous and wicked as 
ever disgraced a Christian country. 

The inhabitants of the Mosquito shore, like 
most other savages, are distinguished for their 
apathy. Hunger alone compels them to seek 
food, which is easily provided in the woods or 
lakes. Careless about the dressing, they devour 
it voraciously, and then, stretching themselves at 
full length, sleep till the cravings of nature again 
arouse them. The paddle, the harpoon, and the 



2S 

canoe comprise all their wealth, and these supply 
all their necessities. 

Enclosed by inaccessible mountains and mo- 
rasses, and protected by a coast full of rocks and 
shoals, they are exposed to few dangers from 
without ; a country abounding in game and pro- 
visions, spontaneously supplies their daily wants; 
a climate more salubrious than that of the West 
India islands, removes the necessity of clothing ; 
while entire freedom from the destructive ravages 
of hurricanes and earthquakes, enables the slight- 
est hut to afford them sufficient shelter. In such 
a situation every stimulus to exertion is removed, 
and, in this state, they may rather be said to ve- 
getate than to live. 

Several attempts have been made to introduce 
Christianity amongst them, by the Dominican 
monks from Guatimala, but hitherto without 
effect. 

A Mr. Fleming and his wife left England in 
the year 1825, for this shore, under the direction 
of the Baptist missionary society, but, unhappily, 
they both died on their arrival at Belize. 

The king has expressed his willingness to re- 
ceive and protect any individual who would reside 
as a teacher amongst them. 

Of their religious belief little is known, except- 
ing that they acknowledge a good and a bad spirit. 
The latter, however, is the only object of worship. 



29 

from dread of his anger ; the good spirit they con- 
sider too merciful to injure them, and plead this 
as a sufficient reason for neglecting to adore him. 

" At their funerals they are accustomed to 
inter, with the body of the deceased, his paddle 
and harpoon, supposing that he will need them to ^ 
provide sustenance in another world."* These 
sHght sketches comprise all the information I 
have been able to gain of the inhabitants of the 
Mosquito shore. 

Such a people cannot be uninteresting to the 
Christian philanthropist. Nations, still darker, 
and more besotted, have been v sited by the mes- 
sengers of Jesus, and blessed with the tidings of 
a Saviour's love. May it not then be hoped, that 
the time is not far distant, when the echoes of 
these hills shall join in transmitting from land to 
land, the sacred song, " How beautiful upon the 
mountains are the feet of them that bring the 
glad tidings of salvation." 

* For this, and one or two other facts, the author is indebted to " Sketches 
of Honduras," a series of papers published in the Honduras Gazette. 



CHAPTER IV. 

Voyage to Yzabal, — Quays^ — ■Settlements^-— 
Coast of Yucatan^ — Rio Dulce, — Pirates,-— 
Castillo del Golfo. 

After spending two months very agreeably 
in Belize, we left it on Friday, the 4th of May, 
on board a schooner bound for the port of Yzabal. 

The light winds which generally prevail at 
this season of the year, prevent a very rapid pro- 
gress, but the traveller is abundantly repaid by 
the picturesque appearance of the numerous 
beautiful little quays, which surround the bay on 
every side. Some of these have not more than a 
mile in circumference, and are covered with 
bushes ; on others are to be seen a few huts, and 
one of them (St. George's) has several good 
houses, and is the favourite resort of the inhabit- 
ants of Belize. 

Very near to a cluster of these quays, lies a 
part of the Spanish main, called, by the English, 
" False Bite." On the shore is a settlement of Cre- 
oles, who chiefly employ themselves in raising stock 



31 

and vegetables, which are sent to Belize. The land 
cultivated runs close along the shore, and is 
backed by the mountains. It is of excellent qua- 
lity, and well watered. The settlers find it healthy, 
and complain only of the immense number of flies, 
especially of the cantharis, or Spanish fly, (the 
Lytta Vesicatoria of Linnaeus,) great numbers of 
which abound here, and are considerably more 
annoying than the mosquito. 

Leaving this, and passing Northern Standy 
Creek, a settlement of Caribs, and Mullands 
river, where there is another small settlement of 
Creoles, we came to an anchor at a point called 
Manavique, by the Spaniards, or Three Points, by 
the English. Before us lay stretched a rich line 
of coast, belonging to the province of Yucatan, 
low, and thickly wooded to the shore. No vesti- 
ges of inhabitants were to be seen, excepting one 
or two straggling huts, probably belonging to fish- 
ermen. The woods abound in game of every kind, 
and are said to be infested both by tigers and ser- 
pents; some of the former are of considerable 
size. There is, however, little doubt but that 
this animal, which is called, by all who frequent 
these shores, the tiger, is in fact the jaguar, bear- 
ing a strong resemblance to the ounce, both in 
size, and in the form of the spots with which his 
skin is diversified. 



32 

€ 

The beach swarms with the cayman, or alliga- 
tor, generally small in size, ahhough they are 
sometimes met with 18 or 20 feet long. These 
so nearly resemble the crocodile of the Nile, that 
they may be considered the same species, allow- 
ing for the trifling variation which difference of 
climate will produce. The number of sharks is 
also considerable. 

Sailing from this point, the traveller soon comes 
in sight of the Rio Dulce. The entrance to this 
beautiful river, viewed from a distance, is enchant- 
ing, and takes a powerful hold upon the imagina- 
tion. On either side are high mountains covered 
with the richest verdure and apparently leaning 
over as if to meet each other ; while the peculiar 
bend which the river takes very near the entrance, 
throws forward the woods which skirt the side of 
the hills, and the whole forms an archway of con- 
summate beauty. The effect is exquisite and sur- 
passes description. 

Between these mountains the river flows in a 
serpentine direction for near twenty miles, and it 
is impossible for words to do justice to its scenery. 
As the vessel glides slowly and silently along, or 
is propelled by oars when the stream is contrary, 
the eye is regaled with all the varieties of foliage, 
which adorn the various trees and bushes, hang- 
ing over the sides of the mountains, and towering 



33 

jtlmost to the clouds ; the ear receives the mingled 
notes of an infinite variety of birds, singing in se- 
curity among crags and precipices where the foot 
of man has never entered to destroy or to molest ; 
while the discordant cry of the various tribes of 
monkeys inhabiting the woods, and every instant 
playfully springing after each other from tree to 
tree, gives a diversity to the scene at once novel 
and delightful In addition to this, the windings 
of the stream are so abrupt, and the effect so 
varied, that it is in fact a perpetually changing 
picture. Nature would appear on this spot to 
have lavished all her beauties, nor can the most 
imaginative mind conceive a scene of greater 
loveliness. 

The abundance of her gifts, are however in a 
considerable degree counterbalanced by the in- 
tense heat of a tropical sun, which darts its rays 
with amazing force between these hills, oftentimes 
unrelieved by the least breath of air ; while the 
heavy dews that fall during the night, together 
with the damps of the rainy season, render it a 
dangerous habitation for man. 

About half way up, the river falls into a lake 
10 miles in width, and surrounded by high moun- 
tains. On its opposite side commences the upper 
part of the Dulce, which presents a very different 
aspect to the lower. The land on either side is 



u 

low and marshy, and the mountains fall into the 
distance. 

After ascending a few miles further we anchor- 
ed about 8 o'clock on a fine moonlight eveningc 
A sultry stillness reigned on every side, disturbed 
only by the distant cries of the various animals 
in the woods— the solitary splash of some passing 
fish, or the gentle rippling of the stream against 
the sides of the vessel. 

The conversation turned on the atrocities of 
the pira,tes, who infest these parts ; and among 
other stories the history of the sacking and scut- 
tling of the very vessel in which we then were, was 
related. It is a melancholy tale, but as the cir- 
cumstances are of recent date, and the sufferers 
known, it is worth remembrance. 

She was at that time manned by a captain and 
four men, and had on board a clerk of the house 
to which she belonged. They were returning 
fi'om the Spanish coast to Belize, When they fell 
in with a schooner of similar size which they im- 
mediately recognized as belonging to the bay. 
This vessel it appears had been taken the day 
before by the pirates, who now attempted to board 
them. Deceived by her appearance they were 
totally unprepared for resistance. The wretches 
had no sooner placed their feet on her deck, than 
they proceeded to murder every soul on board, 
with the exception of one black man who jumped 



35 

overboard, and although wounded, miraculously 
escaped by swimming. Having hung the body 
of the master at the yard arm, they first sacked 
and then scuttled the vessel, supposing she would 
sink ; but they were too confident and careless, 
she drifted ashore and told her own tale — a few 
days after this the party landed, and soon excited 
suspicion by their lavish prodigality ; they were 
arrested and sent to Jamaica for trial, and suffi- 
cient evidence being procured against them, 
were condemned and executed. So quickly does 
the hand of God sometimes take vengeance for 
blood. 

As the night came on we stretched ourselves 
upon the deck to sleep, leaving one to watch, but 
the excitement of these stories, together with the 
novelty of the situation, banished it from most of 
our eyes. About midnight, the hghtning which had 
been for some time playing about the hills, became 
exceedingly vivid, and as its flashes glanced upon 
the sleepers, reclined on different parts of the 
deck, each one with a loaded musket and cutlass 
by his side, they seemed to exhibit a scene rather 
of romance than of reality. 

At day-break we rose, and the current being 
still unfavourable, some of the party went into the 
woods to shoot, and succeeded in killing three 
small birds not unlike the common partridge. 
Every report of the musket seemed to awaken all 



36 

the echoes of the hills, calling and answering one 
to another as if their reverberations would never 
cease. One of the sailors had also dived, and 
brought up three fine young turtles, and these 
with the birds provided us no contemptible dinner. 

Slowly ascending the river, and passing an im- 
mense number of beautiful little creeks, diverging 
to the right and left, many of which contain 
springs of excellent water, the traveller reaches 
the mouth of a second lake, where the Spaniards 
have erected a fort, called by them Castillo del 
Golfo, or the castle of the gulph. The appear- 
ance of its huts from the river is picturesque. 
The fort however consists only of a ruinous wall 
defended by about twenty carib soldiers, who 
live there surrounded by their families. 

We landed to show our passports, and were 
led to the commandant's house, through rows 
of plantain trees, on the fruit of which he and 
his troops subsist. It was a miserable hut, with 
a clay floor not even levelled. A hammock 
was slung across the room in which an old 
woman was reclining, — a few coarse prints of 
the virgin, and a brass crucifix ornamented its 
mud walls, and two or three common wooden 
stools constituted the whole of its furniture. 
But as if to make the contrast more striking, on 
one of them stood several beautifully cut-glass de- 
panters, cream jugs and tumblers, with three or 



37 , • 

four clay jars of excellent water. One of these 
was handed to us with a glass, by a fine young 
woman, apparently about sixteen and nearly 
naked. The females here seemed to have lost all 
sense of modesty and propriety, wore considerably 
less clothing than the men, and appeared if pos- 
sible more depraved. They perform all the 
manual lahour, and are treated as a degraded 
sex : numbers of them were bathing round the 
vessel and some of them asked permission to 
come on board. 

This settlement is very beautiful, and its inha- 
bitants unconscious of their wretchedness seem 
to a superficial eye contented and happy. 

Our passports being backed by the command- 
ant's secretary, who seemed to have some difficulty 
in inscribing his name, we crossed the lake on the 
shore of which stands the little town of Yzabal. 
Here we anchored for the night, and landed early 
in the morning. 



CHAPTER V. 

Yzahal^ — Mountain of Mico, — Indians^ — Cha- 
racier of these Aborigines, — Superstitions, — 
^uana. 

This port consists of about fifty or sixty huts 
raised at the foot of one of the mountains, and is 
in fact only a depot for goods passing from BeUze 
to Guatimala. 

On landing we were conducted to the com- 
mandant's house, and before him our boxes were 
opened, but immediately closed on an assurance 
that they contained nothing contraband, with 
" tengo confianza en vmds" '' I have confidence in 
you," and no further notice taken of them. In one 
of the largest of these habitations we took up our 
temporary residence, boarding with the owner, 
and sleeping at a neighbouring hut. The provi- 
sion was by no means despicable, consisting gene- 
rally of soup, eggs, a hashed fowl and a clarety 
kind of wine mixed with water for dinner, and 
cofiee in the morning and evening. This hut, by 
far the best in the place, was spacious, well built of 
wild cane, and covered with the leaf of the bay tree- 



39 

Considerable quantities of goods were remain- 
ing in it, waiting for mules to be forwarded over 
the mountains. Besides the requisite articles of 
furniture it contained a thermometer, a French 
writing desk, and about thirty volume& of books 
neatly bound, chiefly translations from the French, 
one or two of Mad. Genlis' novels, and a life of 
Napoleon. 

About 6 o'clock every evening the drum* beats 
to call out the military force of Yzabal, which is 
composed of about twenty men, not only out of 
uniform, but almost without dress, one wanting a 
hat, a second a coat, and all without shoes or 
stockings. These armed with rusty muskets and 
old swords, and totally without discipline, are its 
only defence. 

The people are excessively indolent, sleeping 
the greater part of the day on mats stretched 
upon the floor, and lying on the ground at their 
house doors, talking with each other during the 
night. The heat is considerable, varying dur- 
ing the hottest months from 90 to 100^ Fah- 
renheit, in the shade; and to Europeans the cli- 
mate is very dangerous. 

Our mules having at length arrived, we pre- 
pared to set out over the mountain the following 
morning at day break. The bustle of preparation, 
saddling and loading of cargo being over, we 
started in good spirits and good temper, one fol- 



40 

lowing another merrily, and forming a line of 
considerable length. Our party consisted of a 
lady and four gentlemen; three servants followed 
with provisions, and the arriero or muleteer with 
fifty mules loaded with goods brought up the rear. 
Each Spaniard was armed with a brace of pistols 
in holsters, and a large knife fixed in his belt, and 
the servants with swords. 

Immediately on leaving Yzabal the traveller 
begins gradually to ascend the mountain, winding' 
in a serpentine direction towards its summit, 
through narrow passes, lined on each side with 
trees. In consequence of this circuitous rout, 
without which it would be utterly impassable, the 
ascent is very gradual, and is not one continued 
rise, but varies according to the difficulties of the 
way. 

After riding onward for about an hour the road 
becomes very steep, some of the ascents appear- 
ing almost perpendicular from their base. Over 
these the mules pass with amazing care and saga- 
city, invariably placing their feet on the same 
ledge of rock or treading on the same crag, over 
which their predecessors have passed. Many of 
these are worn with their footsteps, and they are 
never willing to change them. 

On reaching the summit of one of these precipi^ 
ces, a most beautiful ravine suddenly burst upon 
our view, into which we immediately began slowly 



41 

to descend, along the beds of the difterent chan- 
nels formed by the autumnal rains. A rivulet of 
clear spring water flowed murmuring along over 
the numerous pebbles and pieces of rock which 
impeded its course, a variety of trees in full luxu- 
riance shaded it from the intense heat of the sun, 
while the melody of birds regaled the ear with 
harmony ; depicting one of those scenes which 
poets have described, when they have sung of the 
days of the golden age. 

At least so it seemed to us, for here we break- 
fasted, not on aerial food, but on good cold fowls 
and wine which we had taken the precaution to 
store for some such occasion. How far this be- 
verage might operate on the fancies of hungry 
travellers, so as to lead them to exaggerate the 
natural beauties of the spot, must be left for the 
reader to determine. 

The remainder of the journey over the moun- 
tain is relieved by a constant repetition of similar 
scenery. In some places the passes are lined by 
trees rising most majestically to the height of 90 
and 100 feet. At other times rows of palms 
branching on either side form a continued gothic 
archway, or rather series of archways, far sur- 
passing those of art : while in other situations the 
abruptness of the transition from hill to dale, and 
from mountain to ravine relieve the eye and con- 
siderably heighten the effect. 

6 



42 

At times one half of a party separated by the 
roads are some distance in advance, and then the 
shouts of the muleteers calling one to another, or 
to their mules, and the answering whistle of the 
stragglers in the rear as they wind down or as- 
cend the different glens, now appearing and then' 
as suddenly concealed by the intervening trees, 
render the scene singularly picturesque. A few 
wandering Indians conveying parcels from Gua-* 
Ian to Yzabal or loaded with maize, are the only 
human beings to be seen till about 4 o'clock in 
the afternoon, by which time in favourable months 
the mountain is generally passed, and the travel- 
ler arrives at a small Indian town called Mico, 
another depot for goods. 

During four months in the year it is however 
almost impassable, and the journey far from being 
agreeable is one of the most difficult and painful 
that can be experienced. In many instances tra- 
vellers are obliged to pass the night on its summit 
drenched by the rains, and terrified by the prox- 
imity both of tigers and rattlesnakes. 

After resting at Mico a short time, it is custo^ 
mary to ride forward about a league, to a solitary 
hut, where parties generally remain for the night 
on account of the superior forage for the muleSi 
On alighting at this house we inquired for some^ 
thing to eat, but could get no other reply than 
'' no hay" there is none. At length however after 



43 

considerable persuasion the female was induced 
to move, and in a short time two fine fowls and 
some eggs were produced. The servants lighted 
a fire, and after roasting the fowls and preparing 
the eggs with the addition of chocolate, we threw 
ourselves on the ground, and by the light of the 
fire ate a hearty supper. Soon after this most of 
the party were soundly sleeping. 

Notwithstanding the excessive fatigue of the 
day's ride, I could not rest. During the whole of 
the night, some thousands of monkeys that inhabit 
the woods around Mico kept up a loud and dis- 
cordant yell, any thing but grateful to the ear ; 
while the Hght of the fire glared only upon three 
or four wild figures, gliding from one part of the 
hut to another, and appearing at such an hour 
and by such a light more like demons than men. 

These Indians are a scattered portion of the 
aborigines of the country, and their original 
character and condition does not appear to have 
been much improved. Generally speaking they 
have the character of being trusty and harmless, 
and excepting when under the influence of intoxi- 
cating liquors display considerable mildness. As 
messengers they are very faithful, finding their 
way through bushes and thickets before untrodden, 
with a degree of instinct which is truly surprising. 
They subsist solely on maize, and drink little be- 
sides water, unless it be a kind of spirit called 



44 

pesso, which is made by the rind of limes rubbed 
with corn, and allowed to ferment, and then mixed 
with honey ; this they esteem a great luxury. 

The maize they grind into a powder between 
two stones, and after moulding it into a kind of 
dough with water but without salt, they bake it 
in small cakes which they call tortillas. In ap- 
pearance they are not unlike the English oat- 
cake, but very tasteless. 

Their huts are altogether without furniture. 
Some of them have a hammock, but this luxury 
is by no means general. Their usual custom is 
to sleep on mats upon the floor. 

These scattered families all profess the Roman 
Catholic religion, and are under the pastoral care 
of the Padre at Gualan, the nearest town to their 
residence, who visits them two or three times a 
year for the purposes of confession and absolution. 
The whole of them are exceedingly ignorant and 
superstitious, and are most completely under the 
dominion of their religious superior. The women 
of this hut had each of them small silver crucifixes 
suspended round their necks by light gold chains, 
which they seemed to regard with the highest 
degree of reverence. 

Owing to the obstinacy of the muleteers it is 
almost impossible to set out early in the morning, 
and as the road from hence is open and unshaded 
by trees, this perverseness often becomes a source 



45 

of considerable distress and vexation. The in- 
conveniences of horse or rather mule exercise un- 
der a tropical sun, are soon found not to be trifling. 

After ascending for some time from Mico, the 
edge of an immense valley presents itself, sur- 
rounded by high mountains gradually sloping to 
the ground, and forming a very large circus or 
amphitheatre, thickly wooded on every side chiefly 
with pine, and having at least sixty miles of cir- 
cumference. Its appearance is sublime, but the 
intense heat of the sun when we crossed it 
reflected on all sides, with scarcely a breath 
of air, greatly impeded our enjoyment of its 
scenery. The soil here was very sandy, and in 
some parts the face of the country completely 
sterile. Vegetation seemed to be entirely burned 
up by the rays of the sun. 

Towards evening another hut appears in the 
distance called Iguana, and after the exhaustion 
produced by the heat and fatigue of the day, it is 
a most agreeable resting place. 



CHAPTER VI. 

Iguana^ — Gualan^ — Town --Morals^— Customs^ 
Intolerance^ — Superstition^ — Trade, — Educa- 
tion, — Prisons, — Scriptures. 

The people of Iguana unlike those of Mico, 
are very accommodating, and willingly render 
every attention in their power to travellers ; so 
that with very little trouble, a comfortable lodging 
is procured for the night ; that is to say, so far as 
the idea of comfort can be connected with eating 
on the ground, and sleeping in the open air, cir- 
cumstances to which the mind becomes recon- 
ciled in a much shorter time than one could 
imagine. 

From this place to Gualan the distance is but 
short, consisting of only four leagues, and chiefly 
lying through plantations, some of them in a 
state of considerable luxuriance. Nearly the 
whole of the land along the road between 
Iguana and Gualan is more or less cultivated, 
principally by Indians, who bring the produce to 
market at the latter place. 



47 

Gualaii although a town of inconsiderable 
size, is the only one of importance between Yza- 
bal and Guatimala, (excepting Zacapa, which 
did not lie in our route.) The entrance to it is by 
the principal street, at the end of which is the 
plaza, or market-place, and a neat church. The 
houses are all of them low, consisting of one 
story only, with white plastered walls, and red 
tiled roofs, and very heavy antique windows, 
having balustrades before them mostly of wood. 

The town is estimated to contain about 2000 
inhabitants, but no census has been taken. 

In Gualan as in all the other towns of Central 
America, there is no inn, or house set apart for 
the reception of travellers; we therefore accom- 
panied our Spanish friends to the house of their 
agent, at which place the alcalde soon arrived to 
examine our packages. This he did with consi- 
derable care, although accompanied with as 
much civility as could be expected. 

The interior of the houses generally consists of 
only two rooms, separated from one another by s 
slight wooden partition. In the one which it was 
our lot to occupy, the whole of us, including the 
family of our host, dined, and the greater part of 
us slept ; five small beds being placed around it for 
that purpose, A large wooden table, (a fixture,) and 
some common wooden chairs, composed the rest 
of its furniture ; two hammocks swung constantly 



48 

from one end of the room to the other, and three 
or four swords with several muskets, ornamented 
its walls. 

Soon after our arrival several of the neigh- 
bours entered the house, which seemed always 
open to every visiter. One threw himself in a 
hammock, others seated themselves on the table, 
or on beds, and all began at once to inquire the 
news, and to discuss politics with the greatest 
vehemence, smoking and spitting on the floor 
most profusely. 

Nothing can exceed the indolence, licentious- 
ness, and ignorance of these people. Their only 
idea of freedom is, the absence of all restraint, 
and consequently, in manners and morals they 
have levelled themselves with the brute creation. 

The mistress of the house, a young woman of 
about twenty, was a complete specimen of filth 
and vulgar finery. Terribly afliicted with a 
giiegiiecho, or swelling of the glands of the neck, 
she still had sufficient vanity to suppose herself 
handsome ; and dressed in a dashing printed 
gown, made very low in the body, with pink 
shoes, and silk stockings, and two gold chains 
hanging about her neck, she paraded the room 
like a sultana of the east. A more pitiable ob- 
ject could scarcely be seen. Her husband, an old 
man of about sixty, exceeded her if possible, in 
grossness. In this house it was our misfortune 



49 

to be obliged to remain nine days. Tiie servants, 
as is invariably the case, imitate their masters, 
and are lazy and indolent. It is said they have 
considerably deteriorated since the revolution. 

Immediately after rising in the morning, coffee 
vi^as prepared, and about nine we breakfasted on 
stewed meat, eggs, frijollis or black beans, bread, 
and coffee. Dinner generally consisted of four 
courses, two dishes to each, and included beef 
cut up and hashed, fowls, turkeys, and sausages, 
but all roasted to pieces, soaked in bad butter, 
and thickly strewed over with onions ; frijollis, 
eggs, and a milk pudding followed, and wine and 
water to drink. In the afternoon chocolate was 
prepared, and in the evening, about nine o'clock, 
a supper similar to the dinner, but with less vari- 
ety of viands. For these accommodations each 
individual paid a dollar per day. The whole of 
these messes were prepared under a shed, in a 
large dirty yard, which served as a kitchen, and 
was full of filth of all kinds The knowledge of 
this, with the sight of the servants, had no ten- 
dency to quicken our appetites. The spoons, 
cups, and knives and forks were of silver, and 
two lamps hanging from the roof, cased in silver, 
but quite neglected, betokened a country that had 
once been rich in metals. 

The morning after our arrival we were pre- 
sented in form to the alcalde. The old man 



50 

received us reclined on a mat, and apologized for 
not rising, as he was unwell. The only furniture 
in the room was an old bed and two miserable 
chairs. His wife and daughter made their appear- 
ance, with massy gold chains about their necks, 
and silver crucifixes suspended by them, but there 
was nothing else in character with this display. 

This individual is the only officer of justice : 
complaints are lodged before him in writing; 
the offender, if the facts are notorious, is com- 
mitted to prison, and the papers are referred to 
the capital. It rarely happens that more is heard 
of the business, and the incarceration of the poor 
wretch depends chiefly upon his interest with the 
alcalde or the priest. 

The prison is a miserable barn, with a clay 
floor, to which the prisoners are chained ; they 
are now very few in number, as crimes are rarely 
punished. 

The temperature of this place is excessively hot. 
The chain of porphyritic mountains which encir- 
cle the town, while they give it a very picturesque 
and beautiful appearance, materially increase 
the heat, both by impeding the circulation of the 
air, and by reflecting the rays of the sun. In 
the month of June, 1827, the thermometer ave- 
raged 100^ Fahrenheit in the shade. It is far 
from being healthy, and in the months of Sep- 
tember and October the number of deaths is 



51 

considerable. Fevers are the chief cause of this 
mortaUty. Small pox is rare, as vaccination is 
generally practised by the medical men, (if such 
they may be called.) There is not, in fact, a 
single individual in the place, who has the slight- 
est knowledge of medicine ; and if an inhabitant 
be taken ill, nature has to struggle not only with 
the disease, but with a bad climate and an igno- 
rant quack ; it need not therefore, excite surprise 
that she often fails. 

There do not appear to be any books whatever 
in the place, excepting a few mass books, and these 
are little used. The priest, a sottish being, is ge- 
nerally despised, and the church greatly neglected. 
The inhabitants appear destitute of all religious 
feeling. A copy of the Scriptures is probably 
not to be met with in Gualan, nor are they per- 
mitted to be sold or distributed without the notes 
of the church. There is a very considerable 
degree of intolerance mixed with this neglect of 
every thing divine. I had with me a number of 
the " Ocios," (a periodical pubHshed by the Spa- 
nish emigrants in London,) which contained a 
paper in favour of religious toleration. I read a 
part of it aloud, but was immediately stopped 
with assurances that it could never be thus in 
America: they evidently disliked the principle. 
Yet these are republicans ! 



53 

The men when dressed " a la Inglesa," of which 
they are very fond, are in manners and appear- 
ance the exact prototypes of Enghsh ploughmen 
at a country fair. A few of the women have 
some degree of softness and polish in their man- 
ners, but generally speaking, they are disgusting. 

No provision is made for the education of the 
people, and the children grow up in ignorance, 
and oftentimes uncontrolled. Soon after the revo- 
lution a schoolmaster was sent from Guatimala, 
but as he could not get paid by the government, 
and the people had no disposition to do it, the 
doors of his establishment were soon closed. 

The inhabitants of Gualan are composed of 
agents employed in the transmission of goods to 
and from Guatimala, Omoa, and Yzabal ; mari- 
ners who convey them by the river Motagua, in 
their pitpans ; and agriculturalists, (the Indian 
population,) who grow wheat and maize. There 
are also two potteries, which employ about twenty 
men in the manufacture of red tiles for the floors 
and roofs of the houses, and a few household 
utensils. The market is held daily in the plaza, 
but it is very irregularly supplied. 

Near the town flows a river of excellent water, 
in which the inhabitants are constantly bathing. 
At the bottom of one of these hills is a very fine 
spring, at which the servants fill their pitchers every 



53 

evening for the succeeding day. It is their gene- 
ral rendezvous about seven in the evening ; and 
to watch them winding up the hill, through the 
orchards which lead to the fountain, each with 
her red pitcher on her head, and following one 
another in a continued line, is quite a primitive 
scene, and by far the most interesting sight in 
Gualan. 

About a mile from the town are two mines, 
one of gold, the other of silver, which are said to 
belong to individuals who have not money to 
work them. Some attempt must however have 
been made, as they say they are not of the first 
quality, and it would be long before they could 
be made to pay. At length we heard of the arri- 
val of our mules, and joyfully prepared to leave a 
place which possessed so few attractions. 



CHAPTER VII. 

San Pablo, — Ampu, — Simplicity of the Inhabit- 
ants, — Chimalapa— Sulphureous Springs,— 
Entrance into Guatimala. 

Leaving Gualan and passing through two small 
Indian villages in the route, we came to San Pa- 
blo, a town containing about sixty thatched houses, 
and a neat church. The road from hence to Ampu 
is tolerably level, but in many parts unshaded, 
and in these situations, during the hot months the 
sun darts his rays with a force that makes it 
almost impossible to enjoy the scenery. 

Passing two other villages and descending a very 
steep barranca or precipice, we entered a narrow 
defile between two high hills, which appears to 
form the bed of a considerable stream in the rainy 
season, but was now quite dry ; and chiefly exci- 
ted notice from the immense number of butter- 
flies which swarmed in it, many of them very 
large in size, and clothed in every diversity of 
colour. No inconsiderable number of the 760 
kinds which Linnaeus has reckoned up, might 



55 

have been collected in this spot. The hills on 
each side are thickly wooded, and to these on our 
approach they rapidly winged their flight. 

From hence passing over a small chain of hills 
nearly devoid of vegetation, and composed en- 
tirely of calcareous earths, we arrived at the little 
village of Ampu, where for the first time, we 
observed lands enclosed by hedge rows, and 
cattle grazing under the eye of their owners. 

This place does not lie in the regular route from 
Gualan to the capital, and is consequently rarely 
visited by strangers. The whole of the inhabit- 
ants soon appeared at the house where we had 
stopped, the news of the arrival of an '' Ingles" 
and his " Senora," having rapidly spread through- 
out the neighbourhood. Though exceedingly in- 
quisitive, examining the dress of the lady with the 
greatest attention, they were very respectful and 
polite. From my having a few medicines, they 
at once concluded I was a physician, or " gran 
medico," and several came to complain of their 
infirmities. One had rheumatism, another calen- 
tura or fever, a third colic. To all of these very 
simple remedies were offered, and we were loaded 
with thanks. Towards evening we took tea, and 
amused ourselves by letting them taste it, which 
some of them did with strange contortions ; while 
others, with a courtier-like politeness declared it 
to be "muy bueno," very good, at the same time 



secretly stepping towards the door, in order to 
empty their mouths of it unobserved. Many of 
these people had never passed the bounds of their 
native village, and knew as little of the tumultu- 
ous world, as the world knows of them. 

From hence the following morning, we started 
for Chimalapa. across dry and arid plains of con- 
siderable extent, bearing scarcely any signs of 
vegetation. A few leafless trees and shrubs were 
scattered over them, high and sterile mountains ri- 
singone above another, enclosed them on every side, 
while the reflection of the sun's rays on the sandy 
soil, rendered the heat almost intolerable. After 
riding onward over these plains, for about six 
leagues, we passed two small Indian settlements, 
where the soil appeared better in quality, was 
a little cultivated, and in some places enclosed. 

Towards evening, we arrived at Chimalapa. 
a town containing about 500 inhabitants, several 
good houses, and a neat church. The population 
is entirely Indian, and altogether uninstructed. 
Duriuff the nisht the thunders echoed over the 
neighbouring mountains, which were brilliantly 
illuminated by numerous and vivid flashes of 
lightning, accompanied by heavy rains ; the first 
that had fallen here for several months. 

Our following day's journey was very uninte- 
resting. With the exception of a few pines, 
some maguey and cactus plants, the face of the 



57 

country is sterile, and appears almost entirely 
uninhabited. One Indian settlement, where we 
remained for an hour or two, in the heat of the 
day, was cleaner, more compact, and had a 
greater air of comfort about it, than any we had 
yet seen. About four leagues from this little 
spot runs a range of high mountains chiefly com- 
posed of porphyry, which it is no easy task to 
ascend after a long day's journey. Once accom- 
plished however, the traveller is abundantly re- 
paid. From this elevation the country again 
becomes level, and he suddenly jSnds himself 
transported into a fresher and cooler climate. 
The difference of temperature is truly surprising. 
After being oppressed with heat, we found our- 
selves at once chilly, and when we arrived at 
Guastatoya, a village situated about a league 
from the summit, wet with the rain, which had 
for some time been falling in torrents, we should 
have rejoiced at the opportunity of surrounding 
a blazing fire. 

This village is one of the most interesting in 
the whole journey. Its elevated situation and 
beautiful scenery, rendered still more agreeable 
by the refreshing rains that had so lately fallen- 
pleased us exceedingly, and we could willingly 
have remained here some days, had our time 
permitted it. The house we inhabited was one 
of the best in the place, and was at that time 

8 



tenanted bv an old widow ladv and her two daush- 
ters. The chairs, doors, and two old fashioned 
couches, were all ol' mahogany antiquely carved; 
three niches in the wall of the largest room con- 
tained images of saints, and a large crucitix, 
while in an inner apartment, an old four-post 
mahogany bedstead, with a few better articles of 
furniture indicated some degree of superiority in 
the ONMier. It had probably been the residence 
of a priest in former days, having every appear- 
ance of a decayed parsonage. The yard was 
well stocked with fowls, turkeys, and good milch 
cows ; and under a shed was a loom on which one 
of the women was w^eaving coarse cotton. 

The ride from this place to Omoyta, the next 
village, is very agreeable : the first four leagues 
of the way lies through cultivated fields, chiefly 
of maize, and watered by the river Platanos. 
which flows in this direction so circuitously as to 
oblige the traveller to ford it ten times in the 
course of a few hours. In some places this 
stream is four or five teet deep, and has a rapid 
current, but generally it merits rather the name 
of a rivulet. In the rainy season however, it 
augments so much, as to render it necessary, in 
several places, to have ferry boats, wliile in others, 
the post from Gualan to Guatimala is not unfre- 
quently detained several days, owing to the sud- 
den swelling of the waters. The latter four 



59 

leagues are shaded by the woods, through which 
the road is cut ; in many places these are open, 
and partake greatly of the character of park 
scenery. 

At Omoyta we were received into the house of 
the Padre, at that time inhabited only by his 
nephew and niece, the former of whom, a man 
about thirty, lay ill of a fever he had contracted on 
the coast. We found him lying on the floor of one 
of the rooms, with every door and window carefully 
closed, smoking a cigar. In this room he had re- 
mained shut up fourteen days, using no other 
means of recovery, and impressed with the idea 
that fresh air and cleanliness would be injurious 
to the last degree. This we found afterwards to 
be the general opinion, and that the plan he had 
pursued was the regular course of treatment in 
fevers. With some difficulty we persuaded him 
to allow the windows to be opened, that he might 
see the light of heaven, and breathe an untaint- 
ed atmosphere. We then gave him a few simple 
medicines, but as we left early iri the morning, 
we heard nothing more of our patient. 

This house, which stood by itself on the hill, 
overlooking the Indian village at its foot, was 
considerably decayed, and greatly neglected. 
Adjoining to it was a neat chapel, or " Oratorio 
de la Misa," which they willingly showed us. It 
contained one tolerable painting of the taking 



60 

down Irom the cross, and several images, but 
was, in other respects, very plain. Here the vil- 
lagers assemble to say mass, every feast day. A 
small bell raised above the building, serves to 
call them together out of the valley, and were it 
to join in simple and spiritual worship, it would 
yield in such solitudes as these, one of the most 
interesting and delightful of sounds. 

From Omoyta to San Jose the country is for 
the most part sterile, and the scenery uninterest- 
ing. After passing one or two considerable bar- 
rancas, the road suddenly turns by a beautiful 
little spot, cultivated with the sugar cane. A 
good house, belonging to the proprietor, and a 
trapiche or sugar mill, surrounded by a luxuriant 
plantation, and well watered by a stream, run- 
ning through the grounds, appeared a little para- 
dise in the midst of these wilds. 

About three leagues further, the country be- 
comes exceedingly mountainous, and the roads 
very rugged. Several of these mountains are 
supposed to contain rich veins of silver, but they 
have never been worked, and from their locality, 
the attempt would be difficult and expensive. A 
little beyond these flow two considerable streams 
powerfully sulphureous ; one hot, the other cold : 
near the source of the former the temperature of 
the water is boiling heat. 



61 

From hence at the distance of about a league, 
is the village of San Jose. The spot on which it 
stands has many natural advantages, but the 
houses are v^retchedly built, and the accommoda- 
tions miserable. 

Leaving San Jose, the road to Guatimala Hes 
for several leagues, over a narrow and elevated 
plain. On each side are deep valleys thickly 
wooded, chiefly with pine and evergreen oaks, 
and behind these rise undulating lines of hills, 
backed by high mountains. As we approach 
nearer the city, the eye opens on an extensive 
plain studded with trees, and ornamented by 
numerous hedge rows, enclosing the lands near 
the capital. In the midst of the plain stands the 
city of New Guatimala. 

Its appearance from this spot about a league 
distant, is singularly picturesque. Its numerous 
turrets and cupolas, glistening in the sun, and its 
white low houses regularly arranged at right 
angles, with orange trees, thickly interspersed 
among the buildings, form a middle ground, while 
the mountains encircling it, and especially the 
beautiful " Volcano de Agua," as it is termed, ge- 
nerally crowned by clouds, complete a picture, 
which, for interest and beauty, will bear compa- 
rison with any prospect in the world. 

The descent from this elevated situation into the 
valley is by a road cut out of the rock, and wind- 



62 

ing down it. On one side are deep precipices, 
and on the other high and perpendicular rocks, 
each clothed with hanging woods, and the richest 
verdure. 

At the end of this pass stands the eastern gate, 
where our passports were required. Between 
this and the outer street of the city, are orchards 
and meadows for about two miles, and after these 
a few straggling houses, till we gradually enter 
the more populated districts. When we arrived, 
the place appeared almost deserted : the streets 
were as silent as if the plague had ravaged them, 
and most of the houses were closed. This we 
found afterwards to be partly owing to our having 
entered at the hour of siesta, and partly to the 
civil war, then at its height. The opposing party 
had a short time before assaulted the city, and the 
inhabitants were still in a state of confusion. 
After riding through ten or a dozen streets, all 
equally silent, and some of them covered with 
grass, we arrived safely at the place of our des- 
tination. 



FAMT II. 



THE CITY, — ITS MANNERS, CUSTOMS, &C. — POPULA- 
TION, — POLICE, — MORAL AND RELIGIOUS STATE, 

&c. &c. 



CHAPTER I. 

Former Sites of the City^ — Its present situation 
and advantages^— 'Public Buildings^ — Streets^ 
—Houses, Sfc. 

Be;fore entering upon a description of the 
city, as it now exists, it will be advisable to give 
a short sketch of the different situations which it 
has occupied, and the circumstances that have 
produced its frequent removal. 

From Juarros* we learn, that soon after the 
conquest of the country by Pedro Alvarado, he 
and his followers began to look out for a suitable 
spot on which they might found a capital for the 
newly conquered kingdom. " Taking their route 

"^ statistical History of tlie Kingdom of Guatimala, by Don Domingo 
Tuan-os. Translated by J, Baily, Lieut R. N> 8vo. London, 1823, 



y 



G4 

by the villages on the coast, and overcoming what- 
ever force attempted to dispute their passage, 
they arrived at the base of the " Volcan de Agua.'' 
This situation, says Remesal, (lib. i. ch. ii.,) 
pleased the Spaniards so much by its fine climate, 
the beauty of the meadows, delightfully watered 
by running streams, and particularly from lying 
between two lofty mountains, from one of which 
descended rivulets of water in every direction, 
and from the summit of the other issued volumes 
of smoke and fire, altogether rendering the place 
remarkable for its locality, that here they deter- 
mined to establish themselves, and on this spot 
(about ten leagues from the present city) they 
founded the capital, on the 4th of November, 
1527. Mass was said by Juan Godinez, chap- 
lain to the army, and the feasts and military 
rejoicings lasted for three days. 

This continued to be the principal town till 
the year 1541, when it was entirely ruined by the 
inundation of a dreadful torrent of water from 
the mountain, which, sweeping before it immense 
masses of rock, overwhelmed many of the build- 
ings, and deeply injured the rest. Many of the 
inliabitants perished in the ruins, and amongst 
the rest the wido^v of Alvarado. After this cala- 
mity the principal survivors met together, and 
resolved unanimously to remove the capital about 
a league ftirther, where it would be better pro- 



m 

tected from further inundations by the neigh- 
bouring hills. Here they founded the city called 
Old Guatimala or La Antigua, on the 22d of 
October, in the same year, and immediately pro- 
ceeded to erect convents, hospitals, churches, an 
university, and other pubUc buildings. 

Favoured by innumerable local advantages, 
the new metropolis rapidly grew in importance, 
and promised to compete, if not in size, at least 
in beauty, with the most distinguished cities of 
the new continent. But notwithstanding all its 
natural advantages, it was doomed to share a 
similar fate to its predecessor. Between the date 
of its foundation and the year 1773, when it was 
finally abandoned as the capital, it suffered dread- 
fully from the calamity of earthquakes. Nine 
different times during this period was it in greater 
or less measure, overthrown, and as often rebuilt 
or repaired, until at length, after the shock of the 
year 1773, which left one part of the city in 
ruins, and severely injured the rest, " the inha- 
bitants, wearied with rebuilding, resolved for the 
third time to remove their situation further from 
the volcanoes, the prolific source of all their mi- 
series," and after many examinations, at length 
fixed upon a part of the Valley of Mixco, ten 
leagues removed from them, where, by virtue of 
a royal decree, they founded in 1776 the third 
metropolis. 

9' 



66 

To this situation removed in succession the 
university, parishes, convents, and churches, as 
their different buildings were completed. " Many 
of the artizans and a great part of the peo- 
ple still wished to remain in their old abodes, 
" but in the month of June, 1779, the governor 
issued a proclamation, (certainly a tyrannical 
one,) commanding that every inhabitant should 
quit the city within a prescribed number of days- 
and that from the date of the proclamation " no 
artificer should there exercise his trade, without 
being liable to very severe penalties." In com- 
pliance with these positive orders, " the city from 
being the busy haunt of men, was at once trans- 
formed into a dreary solitude." It remained in 
this state for some time, until at length many of 
its former occupants covertly resumed their 
abodes, and it has by degrees, again become peo- 
pled, though far inferior both in size, population, 
and wealth, to New Guatimala. 

This city as the present capital of the republic 
of the United Provinces, merits a more minute 
description. It is situated in the midst of the 
plain of La Virgen, which is five leagues in dia- 
meter, and forms part of the Valley of Mixco, 
one of the nine smaller valleys, which constitute 
what is termed the great Vale of Guatimala or 
PasuYa. It lies in 14^ 37" N, latitude, and 



67 

90^ 30" W. longitude,* and is 90 leagues from the 
Atlantic, 26 from the Pacific, and 400 from the 
city of Mexico. 

The valley is watered by several streams and 
lakes, which conduce to its fertility, and the city 
is surrounded by numerous small villages, which 
regularly supply its markets with the various 
fruits and vegetables of the country. In point of 
situation it is certainly inferior to the old city. 
The scenery is not so romantic, nor are the lands 
immediately adjoining so well cultivated, yet still 
it is rich enough in natural beauties to bear in 
this respect, comparison with almost any other 
city in the world. 

Owing to the style in which the houses are 
built, it occupies a very considerable portion of 
ground, and appears to an European eye, when 
viewed from a little distance, much more popu- 
lous and extensive than it really is. It contains 
about sixty manzanas or squares of houses, formed 
by the intersection of streets at right angles, 
which vary in extent from 150 to 350 yards in 
front, and these are arranged so as to form one 
large square. On each side of the city, as the 
suburbs have increased, other houses have been 
erected without much regard to uniformity. 

* Juarros states the latitude and longitude to be 14° 40" N. latitude, and 
91° 46" W. longitude, but the author has reason to believe, that those he 
has given on the authority of Mr. Kirkwood, will be found to approxi- 
mate nearer to the true^osition. 



68 

The streets are mostly broad, but wretchedly 
paved, with a considerable declivity on each side, 
which forms a gutter in the middle, so that while 
after a heavy shower of rain, they are almost 
impassable from the sudden stream of water, at 
other times the sharp pointed and ill arranged 
pebbles extort groans from the unhappy sufferer, 
who, in light shoes, is doomed to undergo the 
miserable penance of passing over them. 

In walking through the city, the first thought 
that strikes a stranger is, that Guatimala is one 
of the dullest places he has ever entered. This 
melancholy appearance is chiefly occasioned by 
the way in which the houses are built. Consist- 
ing of only one story, and occupying a great 
deal of ground, they present to the street only a 
series of white washed walls and red tiled roofs, 
with here and there a window, carefully guarded 
by large bars of iron, and a pair of massy fold- 
ing doors, studded on the outside with heavy 
nails, thus giving to it, at the best of times, more 
the appearance of a deserted than an inhabited 
city. 

The plaza or market-place is a square of about 
150 yards each way, with a fountain in the mid- 
dle, and besides the daily market, is occupied by 
numerous temporary shops or stalls, and sur- 
rounded by buildings, offices, and shops. Pro- 
jecting piazzas form a covered walk on three 



69 

sides, under which trifling articles are exposed 
for sale. The pubUc buildings are numerous, 
and consist of an university, five convents, four 
nunneries, a cathedral, four parish churches, and 
fifteen other churches or chapels of minor import- 
ance ; besides a treasury, mint, and other govern- 
ment offices. Most of these are in a good style 
of architecture, and some of them judiciously 
decorated. In comparison with the churches of 
Puebla and Mexico they may possess few attrac- 
tions, but remembering the circumstances under 
which they were built, they do credit both to the 
zeal and taste of those who superintended their 
erection. 

Most of the images of the saints, termed by 
Juarros "beautiful statues," are very common 
pieces of sculpture, and disfigured by absurd 
and vulgar dresses, while many of the paintings 
which he says are " by the best masters" are only 
very ordinary copies. The utensils of gold and 
silver are splendid, and among other ornaments, 
the church of Si. Domingo has a statue of the 
Virgin del Rosario, nearly six feet high, of massy 
silver. 

The history of the university is not very inte- 
resting. The first lectures were delivered in the 
old city, about 1620, and a rector, students, and 
coUegial form of discipline were regularly ap- 
pointed in 1678. Lectures were delivered accord- 



70 

ing to the old scholastic method until 1778, when 
the first course of experimental philosophy was 
begun. Juarros speaks of examinations in sur- 
gery, of a royal cabinet of natural history, of 
schools of mathematics, and a college of phy- 
sicians. All these things may have existed, but 
in the present day they are unknown. The exa- 
mination* have ceased, the cabinet is without 
specimens, and the college of physicians, and the 
schools of mathematics alike destitute of students 
and professors. 

The vanity which prompted Juarros to speak 
of these institutions in the way he has done, seems 
to be a national vice. Similar instances are oc- 
curring every day, especially in the speeches of 
the public authorities, and in the statements of 
the weekly papers. A stranger looking through 
the latter, would receive the impression that a 
military college, a national bank, and Lancaste- 
rian schools were long ago established in the 
republic, but on inquiry he will find that, although 
each of these has been proposed in the assembly, 
reported upon and agreed to, not one of them has 
ever been commenced. 

In connexion with the university, there are 
twelve professorships, and an academical senate 
of fifty doctors. It is needless to enumerate the 
chairs. They are of Latin, philosophy, theology, 
morals. &c. What the precise mode of impart- 



71 

ing instruction may be, matters little. It is suffi- 
cient to know that the students generally leave 
the college with similar acquirements to those 
Gil Bias possessed when he departed from the 
university of Salamanca. The chief of the state 
in his speeches to the assembly, has several times 
alluded to the necessity of a change in the plan 
of study, but hitherto it has remained unaltered. 

There is besides an academy of drawing, which 
has now about nine or ten students, and merits 
notice as being the only memorial of a society 
which was formed in the year 1795, called the 
Economical Society of Friends of the Kingdom, 
for the diffusion and encouragement of Litera- 
ture and Science. Its labours were suspended 
by an arbitrary decree of the court of Madrid, in 
1799. 

The public offices of government are conve- 
niently arranged, but as edifices possess no peculia- 
rities. The three hospitals which are described by 
Juarros as existing in the old city, are now com- 
prised in one, called St. Juan de Dies, which 
consists of four cuadros or squares, around which 
are the different wards for the sick. The rooms 
are high, and tolerably clean, but not well venti- 
lated. It is calculated to hold 300, but at the 
time I visited it, had not more tlian 200 occu- 
pants, mostly wounded in drunken quarrels, of 
whom about a fourth were females. This insti- 



72 

tution is supported chiefly by a tax upon flour 
which produces annually about 16,000 dollars. 
Before the revolution ten dollars daily were paid 
to it from the royal treasury, but this has of 
course, now ceased. It is also occasionally assist- 
ed by charitable contributions. 

But that which chiefly distinguishes Guatimala 
from the other cities of the New World is, its 
numerous and beautiful aqueducts and pilas for 
the regular distribution of water all over the me- 
tropolis. From a fine spring, which rises in the 
mountains, at about one league and a half S. E. 
of the city, the stream is conducted by means of 
pipes into no less than twelve public reservoirs, 
from which it is again carried into every private 
house, regularly supplying, sometimes one, and 
oftentimes tw^o or more pilas or stone baths with 
excellent water. This aqueduct must have cost 
an immensity of labour to complete, being brought 
in some places, over valleys, upon ranges of 
arches, and in others, carried under ground by 
means of tunnels. 

The public fountains and reservoirs are many 
of them of very superior workmanship, and orna- 
ment the streets in which they are placed. Most 
of these have rows of troughs connected with 
them, in which those of the lower classes who 
have not water in their houses wash their hnen. 
It is amusinjSj to see sometimes thirty or forty 



73 

women busily employed in this manner, and most 
industriously rubbing the piece of cloth they 
wish to clean, against a stone, a plan which is 
universally pursued, although manifestly to the 
speedy destruction of the article undergoing the 
operation. But like many other good housewives^ 
the Guatimalian ladies have their prejudices, and 
will not be persuaded that hot water is preferable 
to cold, and would remove the necessity of such 
rough treatment. 

The houses of the respectable citizens are well 
built, and commodiously arranged. A descrip- 
tion of one will give an idea of the rest. Let us 
enter then at that great folding door, looking like 
an inn gate, with blank walls on each side. We 
open it, and immediately find ourselves in a large 
square court-yard, in the middle of which is an 
orange-tree in full bloom. All around it is a 
covered walk or piazza, raised about a foot from 
the ground, the roof supported by wooden pillars. 
Under this piazza are seven or eight doors, lead- 
ing into diiferent apartments, each one having an 
interior communication with the rest, and all of 
course on the ground floor, stairs being almost 
unknown in Guatimala. The first room will 
probably be a common chamber, the next a sala 
or drawing-room, furnished with ten or a dozen 
antique chairs, an old fashioned settee, with a, 
slip of mat before it for a carpet, and two small 

10 



dressing tables, placed at an immense distance 
from one another, each holding the image of a 
saint carefully enclosed in glass. Three or four 
pictures will adorn the clean white-washed walls, 
and two lamps, cased in silver, will be hanging 
from a roof in which all the naked beams are to 
be seen, with here and there a straggling cobweb. 
The floor, like that of all the rest of the rooms, 
will be paved with red tiles, its cleanliness de- 
pending upon the civilization of its owner. 

From hence we pass into a third apartment, 
probably the chief bed chamber, serving also for 
a daily sitting room, in which to receive visiters. 
It will contain a handsome bed, a large maho- 
gany wardrobe, a few chairs, and a cupboard 
with glass doors, in which may be seen carefully 
arranged all the stock of china, from the blue wash- 
hand basin down to the disiiinutive coflee cup, 
till lately a more valuable property than a simi- 
lar service of silver. By the side of the bed will 
hang an image of the Saviour on the cross, under a 
little scarlet canopy, and on a small table in ano- 
ther corner, will be placed St. Joseph or the Vir- 
gin. The two next rooms will have little furniture 
besides a bed, a chair, and an image. We shall 
sshall therefore pass on into the comedor or dining 
room, which will contain only one large oak 
table, (a fixture^ and seven or eight common 
wooden chairs. Next to this will be the cocina : 



4i^ 



\ 

in one corner a large baking oven of an oval 
shape, and in the middle of the room a mass of 
solid brickwork, three or four feet high, contain- 
ing six or seven cavities for small charcoal fires, 
and conveniences for preparing the thousand 
different stews which are compounded in a Spa- 
nish kitchen. To the right of this will be an 
inner yard with its pi la or cistern of water, and 
further on the stables, with a second for the use 
of the cattle. The remaining apartments will 
be occupied according to the property or family 
of the owner, and this is a fair description of a 
respectable house, letting for a rent equal to 
about £80 a year, Enghsh money, in the city of 
New Guatimala. 



CHAPTER II. 

Customs mid Manners^ — Tobacco^ — Morning 
Calls ^—Occupations of a Domestic Man,-^ 
Scenes in the Plaza^ — Evening Parties^ — 
Gambling, — Superstitions, — Marriages and 
Funerals, — Almoneda or Auction. 

Among the various occupations which em- 
ploy the time and attention of a traveller in a 
foreign land, few are more amusing, and if pro- 
perly exercised, are capable of being made more 
instructive, than to observe the variety of cus- 
toms which that imperious tyrant, general usage, 
has imposed upon its inhabitants. We are gene- 
rally too apt to exult in the thought of our own su- 
perior civilization, and while we smile sometimes 
contemptuously at what we deem the absurdities 
of other nations, forget that we ourselves are no 
less under similar bondage, and act oftentimes 
in a way equally opposed to unsophisticated 
nature. 

Still there are fashions in Guatimala which it 
would require more than common charity to 
speak of with respect, and among these stands 



77 

foremost the immoderate use of tobacco by both 
sexes. In private or in pubhc — alone or in soci- 
ety, the Guatimalian must have his cigar, and 
the lady her cigarrito.* His proudest accom- 
plishment is to strike a light with his pocket 
match, neatly cased in silver, and present his 
lighted cigar to her genteely, and she in return, 
permits him to spit in every corner of her room, 
without molestation. A gentleman consumes daily 
from fifteen to twenty puros, and a lady of mode- 
rate pretensions to celebrity, fifty cigarritos. 
Here far from being "destructive of society's 
chief joys," the " pernicious weed" gives a zest 
to every conversation, and supplies all those 
vacuums which, in English society, are filled up 
by gazing on the carpet. No business can be 
transacted, no bargain made, without exchan- 
ging the cigar, and both in the streets and public 
places of amusement, the ladies are to be seen 
smoking as composedly as in their own houses. 

A history of the occupations of a domestic man 
during one day, will lay open in great measure the 
habits of the more respectable families. — At six 
he rises, and if it be one of their numerous feast ^ 
days, accompanies his wife to mass, at which rich 
and poor, masters and servants indiscriminately 



^ A diminutive cigar, made by rolling a small portion of tobacco in 
the leaf of maize ; ten of these are esteemed equal to a common cigar, 
called for the sake of distinction, ^wros. 



78 

kneel without distinction of rank or place. Re- 
turning about seven they take chocolate, which 
answers to our breakfast, with this exception that 
it is not made a social meal. Each one enters 
the comedor at the hour most agreeable to himself, 
and is then supplied with his cup of chocolate 
made very thick and sweet, which with a small 
loaf of bread, an egg, a little fried meat and a 
glass of clear spring water serves him till dinner. 

At this hour during the warmer months, the habit 
of bathing, for which the houses adbrd so many 
conveniences, is very general, but in any other 
way tlie inhabitants appear to have the greatest 
aversion to the application of water. For weeks 
together the most respectable inhabitants never 
wash their hands, faces or teeth, and the slightest 
sickness serves as a pretext for delaying the ope- 
ration as well as that of shaving, frequently for 
months: so that you have only to look at a gen- 
tleman's beard to know how long he has had a 
cold, or to a lady's face to discover when she last 
fancied herself indisposed. 

From ten to twelve are the usual hours for 
morning calls and receiving visits. These possess 
in general the same characteristics as in other 
parts of the world. Friends meet as lovingly, 
talk as scandalously, hate each other as cordially 
and lie as gracefully here, as in the most polished 
cities of civilized Europe. The only points of 



79 

difierence are, that the ladies shout out their ob- 
servations in the highest note of the gamut, be- 
cloud each other's beauties with the fumes of to- 
bacco, and part with an embrace as cordial as the 
majority of modern English kisses. These par- 
ties generally meet in the lady's bedroom, the 
gentlemen dressed " a la Inglesa" with coats cut 
any thing but anatomically, and the ladies in black 
silk, with lace mantilla for the head, splendidly 
worked silk stockings, and shoes almost diminutive 
enough for the Empress of China. Modesty and 
prudery are here understood to be synonymous, 
and subjects are freely discussed in mixed parties 
to which common delicacy would seem to forbid 
the slightest allusion. 

At one they dine on soup, rice, vegetables and 
meat of various kinds cooked in as many different 
ways, with dulces or sweetmeats for a dessert, of 
which about 200 different sorts are prepared. 
Fish frequently appears towards the close of the 
meal, and fruit is introduced before the cloth is 
drawn. Scarcely any wine is drank. In many 
of the most respectable families it does not even 
make its appearance on the table. The whole 
concludes with a recitation, miscalled a thanks- 
giving. Well-bred people in Guatimala, like well- 
bred people in England, naturally feel that any 
thing like serious thanks to their Maker would 
subject them to the charge of fanaticism, and 



80 

therefore arrange matters so that this service is 
merely understood to say that dinner is conckided. 

From the comedor each individual adjourns to 
his bedroom to take the siesta and digest his din- 
ner. So universal is the practice that from two 
to three the streets are deserted. Old and young, 
masters and servants, are alike recUning on beds 
and sofas. The very domestic animals at this 
hour are to be seen stretching themselves in the 
sun, and, partaking of the infection, "join the ge- 
neral troop of sleep." Between three and four 
things begin to revive, and first one and then ano- 
ther, yawning, rubs his eyes, and strolls to the 
clock to see how time has passed during his slum- 
bers. Towards four the comedor again becomes 
frequented for chocolate, after which the occupa- 
tions of the day are once more resumed. 

Let us then take a walk into the street and see 
what is passing there. The daily market is about 
over, and contains only a few stragglers buying 
at a cheaper rate the refuse of the day's sales; 
ten or a dozen half naked Indians are basking in 
the sun; three or four soldiers are recHning 
against the pillars of the piazzas, humming a re- 
volutionary air ; and a little further on are two 
or three devoted Catholics most devoutly kneeling 
before the image of a saint, and apparently in a 
state of the most perfect abstraction. In a little 
while the tinkhng of a bell is heard, notifying the 



81 

approach of the Viaticum. Instantly high and 
low, poor and rich, are on their knees ; till as its 
feeble sound dies in the distance, one by one they 
rise and pursue their way. 

The costume of the street varies little from 
that of the house. The ladies, who in a morn- 
ing are to be seen only in black, now parade the 
streets in dashing silk gowns, and without any 
covering for the head, while the fashionable beaux 
lounge by their sides in printed cotton jackets 
and Spanish cloaks, with one end carelessly 
thrown over the right shoulder. The shops, al- 
though generally well supplied with goods, 
possess no attractions. All are without win- 
dows, and nothing is displayed; the open door 
way being half covered with cloth to keep out 
the sun. 

Returning to our temporary home as the eve- 
ning sets in, we find the gentlemen just come 
back from an excursion to the suburbs, on their 
pacing mules or horses ; each rider seated on a 
saddle rising three or four inches before and be- 
hind, and armed with an enormous pair of silver 
spurs. Before the saddle is a large skin of some 
shaggy coated animal, hanging down to the heavy 
Spanish box stirrup, or still heavier and indescri- 
bable one of iron, over which lies the long taper 
end of the bridle, made of narrow slips of hide 
twisted into a cord, and so long ^as to serve the 

11 



82 

purposes of a wliip. To this is affixed an enor- 
mous bit, under which the poor beast writhes and 
is effectually subdued. 

By about seven o'clock the last gleam of twi- 
light has disappeared, and the servants enter with 
the lights, reciting most devoutly the " Bendito," 
which may be thus translated, " Blessed and 
praised be the holy sacrament of the altar for 
ever and ever.*'^ In another hour the sala has 
assumed its evening character. Cloaks and 
swords occupy the corner of the room — a small 
table at the further end is surrounded by a party 
busily employed at '• monte," (a game of cards,) 
amidst clouds of smoke, — and at the other end 
some lady, regardless of the noisy tongues of 
the gamblers, is playing a popular air upon a 
wretched marimba, or still worse piano, accom- 
panying it with her voice. The miserable light 
yielded by two thin, long-wicked tallow candles, 
in massy silver candlesticks, throws a gloom over 
the apartment, strangely in contrast with the 
light-hearted gaiety of its occupants. Formal 
parties are rare; friends drop in towards the 
evening without ceremony, amuse themselves for 
an hour or two, and retire generally without 
taking any kind of refreshment. 

In some respects a strong parallel might be 
drawn between the domestic manners of the old 
families here, and those of country towns in Ens[- 



8:j - 

land, about a century ago. The uncarpeted 
floor, the heavy clumsy furniture, the well sup- 
plied wardrobe, the stock of china, carefully ex- 
hibited, are all characteristics of those days; 
while the rigid habits of economy, the unbound- 
ed hospitality to strangers, unaccompanied by 
any thing like splendid or showy entertainments, 
and especially the great degree of familiarity 
which subsists between mistress and servants, all 
concur in exhibiting that less refined and simpler 
state of society which existed in such places at 
the period referred to. 

In some respects however, they have made 
sufficient advancement, especially in the art of 
gambling. Their favourite game, " monte," ap- 
pears to have little attraction, besides the facili- 
ties it affords for the indulgence of this detesta- 
ble vice. In families, the farthest removed from 
what is termed by them high players, I have seen 
ten and twelve pounds sterling, lost and gained 
by individuals, in a few hours. 

In insincerity also, they are by no means be- 
hind their European brethren, since there is not 
probably a country in the world w^here words and 
feelings have less connexion. Mortal enemies, 
even where their enmity is notorious to all the 
world, will meet and embrace after the customs of 
the country, with every external appearance of 
intimate friendship. By this procedure nobody 



84 

is deceived. It seems to be an understood regu- 
lation, that whatever may be the workings within, 
nothing shall disturb the serenity of the surface, 
so that even in time of civil war, when factions 
and party spirit are at their height, and the deep- 
est hatreds are cherished, the external quiet of 
society remains unmolested. Were this all it 
might be tolerated ; but the moral effects of sys- 
tematic deception, are too melancholy to make 
one wish to see tranquillity purchased at so high 
a price. 

About ten o'clock the different members of the 
family sit down to a supper, differing little from 
the dinner, eat heartily of its various dishes, and 
with stomachs loaded to a degree that would 
make most people tremble for fear of apoplexy, 
retire to bed, and in half an hour are all soundly 
asleep. In the more religious families recitations 
of about a quarter of an hour in length, and 
mostly to the Virgin, are practised on those eve- 
nings when there are no visiters. 

The superstitious and intolerant feelings of an 
uneducated population are lamentably visible 
among the low^er orders. As the archbishop 
passes in his carriage through the streets, the 
poor Indians are to be seen on either side most 
devoutly kneeling, and so ignorant are they of 
the object to which they bow, that they repeat 
the ceremony not only when the empty carriage 



85 

rolls by, but oftentimes when some other of the 
few clumsy vehicles kept by the wealthier inha- 
bitants rumble along the pavement. Of this our 
own experience furnished an amusing, or I ought 
rather to say, melancholy proof In this instance 
they bent the knee quite as devoutly to a coach 
full of obstinate heretics, as they could have done 
to the pseudo successor of St. Peter himself 

Strangers or heretics, for the words with them 
are synonymous, seldom receive so courteous a 
reception, especially the ladies, who, by their 
dress, are more easily recognized as foreigners. 
At them, or rather their bonnets, stones and dirt 
are not unfrequently thrown, accompanied by the 
elegant word "corMwas," which, being transla- 
ted, signifies that respectable community, the 
swine. 

Even the better educated are slaves to the su- 
perstitions of the church of Rome. To images 
of saints and to church doors every passer by 
takes off the hat, and at ten in the morning when 
the bell tolls to announce the raising of the host 
in the cathedral, the streets and shops, salas and 
kitchens, are alike filled with devout kneelers. 

The etiquette connected with visiting the arch- 
bishop partakes a little of the same character. 
As the visitor enters, the archbishop rises to meet 
him, and presents his finger, on which is a valuable 
diamond ring called " La Esposa" the bride, sig- 



86 

nitying the church. This is humbly kissed by the 
kneehng visitant and the ceremony is renewed 
every time. 

On his saint day crowds of beggars surround 
his gate for alms, and wilHngly afford him the op- 
portunity to perform works of charity, numerous 
enough if number would suffice to merit heaven. 
This tribe, mostly composed of the very worst part 
of the population, thrive and flourish on this pro- 
pitious soil Every individual has his saint day, 
on which besides receiving the congratulatory 
visits of his acquaintance, and the trifling presents 
of his more intimate friends, he feels himself par- 
ticularly bound to assist every drunken vagabond 
who appears at his gate to solicit alms. At other 
times one day in the week is set apart for this 
service, and a certain number of pensioners re- 
ceive their weekly pay. 

Marrying and giving in marriage here, as in 
other countries, is distinguished by pecuhar cus- 
toms. When the cojisent of parents has been ob- 
tained, if the lover have no previous establishment 
he takes a house, and the parents of the lady place 
in it at their own expense a handsome bed and 
plentiful supply of household linen. This having 
been done, the intended bridegroom, on the day 
previous to the celebration of the nuptials, sends 
to his future wife, dresses, jewels and ornaments 
in proportion to his wealth. The ceremony is 



87 

generally performed before day light on the fol- 
lowing morning, and all attendant expenses are 
paid by the parents of the bride. The newly 
married couple then adjourn to the house of the 
lady's father, where they reside for fifteen or 
twenty days. 

The other rites of the church are conducted in 
the same way as in other Catholic countries. 
Funerals are very expensive, owing not only to 
the number of individuals who take part in the 
ceremony, but also to the splendid dresses in which 
bodies are interred. The wealthy throw away 
considerable sums in the indulgence of this foolish 
vanity, and not unfrequently expend a sum equal 
to £50 sterHng upon the interment of a new born 
infant. 

The most splendid funeral I witnessed in Gua- 
timala, was that of a rich Canonigo. The friars 
of the different convents, two by two, led the pro- 
cession, one bearing a massy silver cross, and the 
others lighted wax candles, the canonigos and 
the doctors following in their robes. After the 
bier walked the priests and curas two by two, 
the chief of the state, the friends of the late canon, 
and the principal military officers. Between the 
house of the deceased and the place of interment, 
a distance of about 500 yards, were arranged at 
equal distances in the street, four large tables 
covered with black cloth, and holding six im- 



mense wax candles in massy silver candlesticks 
On each of these the body, extended upon a 
splendid bier and clothed in the richest robes was 
placed. The procession formed around it, a mass 
was sung, and holy water thrown upon the body 
by one of the doctors, after which the whole 
moved on to the next resting place, where the 
same formalities were observed. On its arrival 
at the cathedral the body was placed in the mid- 
dle aisle, the members of the procession ranged 
themselves on either side, with their lighted ta- 
pers, — crowds of spectators knelt in front, and 
other crowds stood in silence behind, as with one 
consent every voice began to sing the solemn 
mass. This imposing ceremony lasted for some 
hours, after which the corpse was deposited in 
one of the vaults below the cathedral. 

The lower orders generally bury in the " Santo 
Campo," or consecrated ground behind the cathe- 
dral, where many simple memorials to the dead 
h9,ve been erected. After the funeral an " almo- 
neda," something like an auction, takes place of the 
goods of the deceased. The various articles of 
furniture are arranged in the room, and ticketed 
with a small paper, on which is written the lowest 
number of dollars for which the article can be 
disposed of An Indian is then placed at the 
window near the street proclaiming with a loud 
voice the almoneda within. The public then 



89 

enter to view the goods, and any one choosing an 
article at the affixed price is permitted to take it 
after it has been pubhcly exposed to the offers of 
a higher bidder. If after three days any of the 
articles remain unsold, they are re-ticketed at two- 
thirds of the former price. 

Among the curious collections which are thus 
exhibited to the public eye, are to be found num- 
bers of wretched pictures, statues of saints, devo- 
tional books, relics, and antique domestic articles 
of solid silver, carrying the spectator back in ima- 
gination to the time when the commonest utensils 
of a tradesman's house were composed of this 
precious metal. Such was literally the case only 
thirty years ago ; while at the present moment so 
great is its scarcity, that a bankrupt and tottering 
government plunged in civil war, is vainly at- 
tempting to establish by the most despotic mea- 
sures, a paper currency. 



12 



CHAPTER III. 

Population^ — Its Characteristics^ — Public Mo- 
rals, — Police, — Political Offences, — Prison. 
—Lawsuits^ — Education, — Schools, SfC. 

The population of the city, according to a cen- 
sus taken in the year 1795, consisted of 24,434 
persons ; but as a considerable increase has taken 
place since that time, it may be fairly estimated 
at 35,000, including European Spaniards, white 
Creoles, Mulattoes and Indians. The offspring 
of negroes and Indians, of whites and Indians, as 
well as the descendants of African negroes, are 
included under the term mulattoes, by which 
they are generally known ; sometimes, however, 
they are called mestizoes, or ladinos. 

Each of these classes possess not only distinct, 
but widely different characteristics. The Euro- 
peans, proud of their Castilian blood, look with 
the most ineffable contempt upon the natives, 
whom they consider their inferiors, both in 
knowledge, industry, and in the exercise of the 
domestic virtues. The Americans, frankly ac- 
knowledging themselves deficient in information, 



91 

and especially in knowledge of the world, bitter- 
ly accuse the Spanish nation as the cause of their 
misfortunes, and console themselves with the 
imaginary possession of a " viveza," or aptitude, 
which, properly cultivated, would have produced 
master-spirits, capable of wielding with credit 
the rod of empire in the new world. The Euro- 
peans, chiefly composed of men, who, in their \ 
younger days have left the mother country, and 
by dint of honourable exertion, have arrived at 
the possession of wealth, are distinguished by 
habits of economy, caution and prudence in their 
engagements. The leading Americans, descend- 
ants of the Spaniards, who, at an earlier period, 
acquired extensive fortunes by the monopoUes 
they enjoyed, and the despotism they exercised, 
have been brought up in those habits of indolence 
which seem inseparable from the climate, are 
dilatory and negligent in business, and too fre- 
quently dissipate their mental ennui at the ga- 
ming-table. Under the influence of these degra- 
ding habits, they frequently descend to little 
meannesses, from which national pride defends 
the Spanish merchant; are doomed to see ob- 
scure Europeans acquiring wealth as rapidly as 
they are losing it, and find themselves in the pos- 
session of power and influence, without that stea- 
diness of character, or those habits of business, 



92 

which might in some measure, have supphed tlie 
deficiency of education and native talent. 

But here it should be remarked, that the Ame- 
ricans themselves are divided into tvs^o parties, 
differing as widely both in feeling and sentiment. 
The liberals^ composed of the few individuals 
who have carefully gathered up some of the 
scattered rays of knowledge, which, in spite of 
the vigilance of Spain, have for some years pene- 
trated into the heart of the new continent, are 
possessed of a higher degree of intellect, and a 
greater energy, than the moderate party ; but 
unhappily, in casting off the slavish yoke of 
Rome, and effecting their mental independence, 
they have imbibed the worst doctrines of the 
French revolutionary school, and strikingly exhi- 
bit in the fury of their hatred, the unhappy princi- 
ples which prevailed at that melancholy period of 
European history. The serviles, consisting of the 
most influential families, who, before the revolu- 
tion, arrogated to themselves the title of noblesse, 
and ruled the country with a despotic hand, 
through the medium of the viceroys, whom they 
caressed and flattered, now fill the different ofii- 
ces of government, act upon Spanish principles, 
are hated and despised by all parties, yet main- 
tain their posts through the influence of the 
church and the resident Spaniards, who support 



93 

their measures from fear of the excesses of the 
liberals. These with the Europeans, from a dis- 
like to every change, and a feverish dread of 
innovation, steadily oppose whatever tends to les- 
sen the influence of the Romish church, or to 
introduce a liberal system of commercial policy. 
The liberals on the other hand, abruptly freed 
from a thraldom which they had borne for ages, 
and in some of the provinces suddenly advanced to 
power and place, seize on every new thing with 
avidity, plunge into schemes of which they under- 
stand nothing, and in their zeal to overthrow all 
existing institutions, forget to separate the good 
from the bad, the wheat from the tares. The 
latter are as incautious as the former are fearful. 
The one holds wretched theories, but lessens the 
evil by mild and moderate practice. The other 
disgraces better principles, by a miserable exem- 
plification of them. In politics the one is ultra 
repubhcan, the other, ultra aristocratical. In 
religion the former inclines to superstition ; the 
latter to scepticism. To foreigners both parties 
are courteous and obliging, and never suffer local 
prejudices to interfere with the rites of hospi- 
tality. 

Into these two classes the white population 
may be pretty equally divided. Difference of sen- 
timent and of character, both mental and moral, 
unite in making them determined enemies, and 



94 

their clashing opinions, feelings, and interests, 
have, as might naturally have been expected, in- 
volved the country in all the horrors of a civil war, 

This confusion of elements gives to Guatimala 
a character of its own, differing considerably from 
that of the sister republics. Liberated from the 
yoke of Spain, not less by uncontrollable circum- 
stances, than by the force of moral feeling ; it 
achieved its independence without an effort, and 
silently exchanged the rule of a despotic mo- 
narch, for the factious struggles of opposing par- 
ties. Each has appealed to arms, excited the 
passions, and called out the energies of a danger- 
ous ally in the coloured population. Happy will 
it be for the disputants on either side, if these 
dissensions shall have subsided, before this third 
party, powerful enough to extirpate both, wash 
out their differences in mingled blood ! 

Nor are such apprehensions altogether without 
foundation. The Mulatto, or mixed race, form in 
point of fact, the physical force of the nation. 
To a considerable degree of cunning, they unite 
an energy to which the simple Indian is altoge- 
ther a stranger, are less subject to the restraints 
of a superstitious creed, and more abandoned to 
the grosser vices of drunkenness and revenge. 
That such a population, armed and discipHned, in- 
flated with new ideas of liberty and citizenship, and 
at the same time shut out, both by colour and cha- 



95 

racter, from the counsels and society of the whites, 
must be dangerous to the state, it does not re- 
quire great penetration to foresee. Perhaps the 
greatest security from such a contingency may 
be found in the hatred borne to them by the 
fourth class of inhabitants, the aboriginal Indians. 
Still these are negative, rather than positive 
friends. Their indolence and perhaps their inte- 
rest, would lead them, in such a crisis, rather to 
conceal themselves in the woods and mountains, 
than to act as partizans. 

Such is the existing stale both of the city and 
republic of Guatimala. Composed of these com- 
bustible materials, its physical and political situ- 
ation may be regarded as similar. Containing 
within its bosom an active internal fire under the 
influence of which it trembles and is convulsed ; 
it is in hourly danger of eruptions more calcula- 
ted to desolate than to enlighten, to destroy than 
to improve. 

This gloomy prospect for the lovers of true 
freedom, becomes still darker to the eye of the 
philanthropist and the Christian, when viewed in 
connexion with the state of public morals. If 
a republic be strong in proportion to the mass of 
virtue concentrated in its population, and if it be i 
in vain to look for political integrity in the ab- 
sence of private honour, then is the situation of 
Guatimala truly lamentable. With a lazzaroni i 



96 

ill rags and filth, a coloured population drunken 
and revengeful, her females licentious and her 
males shameless, she ranks as a true child of that 
accursed city which still remains as a living mo- 
nument of the fulfilment of prophecy and the 
forbearance of God, " the hold of every foul spi- 
rit, the cage of every unclean and hateful bird." 

To this sweeping censure there are certainly 
many exceptions, but they are not sufficiently 
numerous to render such a description as a whole, 
unjust. The pure and simple sweets of domestic 
life, with its thousand tendernesses, and its gentle 
affections, are here exchanged for the feverish 
joys of a dissipated hour ; and the peaceful home 
of love is converted into a theatre of mutual ac- 
cusations and recriminations. 

Among the lower orders this loose and vicious 
life leads to excesses, which, unrestrained by a 
vigilant police, produce the most melancholy con- 
sequences. The men generally carry a large 
knife stuck in the belt against the back, and the 
women a similar one, fastened in the garter of 
the stocking. These on every trifling occasion, 
they draw, and the result is often fatal. Not a 
day passes in which some one or other does not 
stain his hands in the blood of his fellow crea- 
ture. On feast days and on Sundays, the ave- 
rage number killed is from four to five. From 
the number admitted into the hospital of St. Juan 



97 

de Dios, it appears that in the year 1827, near 
1500 were stabbed in drunken quarrels, of whom 
from 3 to 400 died. Of these, probably fifty or 
sixty were assassinated secretly, without having 
any opportunity of defence. 

The police, if such a thing can be said to exist, 
takes no notice of these events, and it would 
seem fabulous to relate, were it not confirmed by 
the most respectable testimony, that there is at 
liberty in Guatimala, at the present moment, 
more than one, of whom it is known that they 
have murdered several individuals. The respect- 
able inhabitants defend themselves by carrying 
swords or pocket pistols in the evening, and are 
rarely molested ; while the lower orders revenge 
the death of their relatives by taking away the 
life of the murderer the first convenient oppor- 
tunity. 

A circumstance of this kind occurred while I 
was residing in Guatimala, very near to the house 
in which I lived. About four o'clock in the af- 
ternoon a poor man was observed lying dead in 
the street, who had evidently been murdered. 
For some time no notice was taken of him ; at 
length he was carried by some passers-by to the 
hospital, and it was immediately known that he 
had been killed by a shoemaker who resided near^ 
and whose brother had fallen some months ago, 
by the hand of the deceased. This man had now 

13 



V 



98 

absented himself, but no means were used for his 
apprehension. A few shoulders were shrugged, 
a few " que lastimas" (what a pity) uttered, and 
there the matter ended. The shoemaker returned 
in a few days, resumed his occupations, and re- 
mains still undisturbed, unless some other has in 
turn, passed him to his final account. 

The only offences noticed are political ones, 
and in these cases the soldiers act as civil offi- 
cers. Of their suitability one melancholy instance 
fell immediately under my own observation. A 
lieutenant of infantry, and eight soldiers, were 
despatched to take a man prisoner who had com- 
mitted some offence against the state. They en- 
tered the room in which he was sitting alone, 
about nine o'clock in the evening. He immedi- 
ately blew out the candle and fired a pistol at 
their officer, whom he wounded. The eight soldiers 
report that their muskets missed fire : it is only 
known that in the confusion the prisoner escaped, 
and has not since been heard of. A suspicion 
having arisen a few days afterwards, that he was 
concealed in Guatimala, a second detachment 
was sent to capture him. The party mistook a 
discharged postman who was in the house, for 
their prisoner : the poor fellow resisted with a 
sword, and was immediately killed. Not content 
with passing five or six bullets through him, they 
j^ierced him mth their bayonets, in order to 



9d 

assure themselves of his death, and for this feat the 
leader of the detachment, was raised from a lieu- 
tenant to the rank of captain. After this, no fur- 
ther search was made for the real delinquent, and 
in two or three days the whole affair was for- 
gotten. 

Such was the exact state of the police of Guati- 
mala in the year 1827, and the picture is certain- 
ly not overdrawn. The Patriot Cavalry, compos- 
ed of the principal young men in the different 
shops and warehouses, was formed for the de- 
fence of the city, and is called out in case of 
tumult ; but from their total want of discipline, 
and frequent refusals to obey the orders of their 
officers, they are but a poor protection either 
against internal or external enemies. In the 
month of August, a plan was formed for surpris- 
ing the nightly guard, setting the prisoners free, 
and then murdering the chief officers of the 
government. This was discovered on the eve of 
its execution, and the Patriot Cavalry were call- 
ed out at eleven o'clock at night. The corps 
consists of 150 men, and in this emergency only 
sixteen appeared. 

The murder of the British consul, although 
arising from motives which but too powerfully in- 
fluence the lower orders, cannot be considered as 
an event connected with passing circumstances. 
The primary motive was certainly revenge for 



100 

what the wretch chose to term the insults ofiered 
to him by his master, in the way of reproof. 
The secondary one, which probably determined 
him as to the time, was the hope of plunder. The 
sensation caused by the atrocious deed, will not 
easily be forgotten by those who, with the au- 
thor, were only a few hours before dining with 
the deceased, and being waited upon by his mur- 
derer. It is not necessary to recall the circum- 
stances which accompanied the horrid deed. 
Too often is the imagination injured, and the 
mind sickened, by similar recitals of human de- 
pravity. 

The prison is spacious, and will contain from 
3 to 400 criminals. In the summer of 1827, 
above that number were, for some time, in con- 
finement. The prisoners sleep on dirty pallets, 
and many of the cells are in a filthy state ; but as 
the rooms are tolerably well ventilated, they are 
on the whole healthy, and jail fever is unknown. 
The severest tortures have been here inflicted 
upon innocent persons, in order to induce confes- 
sion; but I have been assured the practice was 
discontinued long before the revolution. 

The processes in the criminal courts against 
offenders, are so long, and involved in such a 
multitude of forms and writings, as to render it 
impossible to do justice either to the prisoner or 
the public. Bad as was the state of things in 



101 

this respect before the revolution, they are now 
worse. While the prisons are crowded with 
criminals, the courts of justice are inactive, and 
in fact, a nullity. Imprisonment is the grand 
panacea for every evil, and when the prisoners 
increase too rapidly, so that the detention of so 
great a number is difficult and dangerous, thirty 
or forty, at the despotic command of the govern- 
ment, are marched off to the Castle of Omoa, 
where the climate soon puts an end to their mi- 
series. Their bones mingle with those of thou- 
sands of their predecessors, and a new generation 
succeeds them, to occupy their places for a few 
months, and then, in turn, to make way for their 
successors. 

Lawyers are an innumerable body, a certain 
proof that the laws are complex and confounded. 
In fact, a Guatimalian lawsuit is precisely the 
same thing as a chancery suit in England. Like a 
modern mouse-trap, the entrance is wide and 
tempting ; half way in, it is impossible to with- 
draw, — the rest is an affair of your executors. 

This wretched state of the criminal and civil 
courts of judicature, with the total absence of an 
organized police, although one of the causes of 
the frequency of crime, is by no means the most 
influential. The more immediate source of a 
great part of the wretchedness and consequent 
degradation of the lower classes, is to be found 



103 

in their prevailing habits of intoxication, and ni 
the multitude of spirit-shops which, on every 
hand, offer temptations too powerful to be resisted 
, by a people untrained to any habits of self- 
government. The liquor commonly taken, 
is prepared from what are termed panelas : 
these are small loaves of unrefined sugar, 
ch*awn from the cane, and by some called rasp- 
ings ; they are excessively sweet and cloying 
to the taste. Dissolved in water , and mingled 
with the juice of different fruits, the fluid is left 
to ferment until it becomes very strong and ac- 
quires its intoxicating effects. When in this 
state, it is considered fit for sale ; and as it can 
be prepared at so cheap a rate as to come within 
the reach of the poorest Indian, immense quanti- 
ties are disposed of, under the name of chieha, 
and these wretched creatures may be seen roll- 
ing about the streets and suburbs, in a state some- 
times approaching to madness, and sometimes to 
insensibility, under its overpowering influence. 
In this way they spend the little money they ac- 
quire by their labour, and never rise higher in 
the scale of civilization than the low grade in 
which their progenitors have lived and died. 

A more permanent and universal source both 
of crime and laxity of morals will however be 
found in the want of that early education which 
checks the growth of the corrupt principles of the 



i03 



human heart, and fosters whatever is valuable to 
society, or honourable to man. Parents so dissi- 
pated themselves cannot be supposed to take 
much interest in the formation of the character 
of their offspring, who are as might be expected, 
generally left exposed to all the baneful influence 
of such example. 

Nor is the evil at all counteracted by that in- 
tellectual cultivation which in some cases partly 
supplies the deficiency. There are two pubhc or 
endowed schools for boys ; the former belonging 
to the church, was established in the year 1548, 
and the latter under the direction of the munici- 
pality, about a century later. Each is endowed 
with an annual salary for the master of about 
500 dollars. These situations are at present held 
by two ignorant old men who conduct the schools 
on the old Spanish system. A great portion of 
the time is occupied in recitations and in learning 
what they term the Christian doctrine. Under 
such direction the children after years of attend- 
ance are scarcely able to read or write decently. 
The united number on the books is about 400, 
but they attend very irregularly. 

In each of the convents girls are taught to read 
as well as to sew, with the greatest neatness. 
The boys of the higher, and middle classes can 
generally read and write, but among girls the 



104 

latter is a rare accomplishment. In both cases, 
it is unaccompanied by that moral and religious 
instruction, which alone can make it valuable. 

The most strenuous exertions have been made 
to introduce the Lancasterian system by the com- 
mittee of that valuable institution, the British and 
Foreign School Society of London, but hitherto 
unsuccessfully. Congress has publicly expressed 
its determination to establish it, commissioners 
have been appointed and reports made, but from 
some cause or other no active steps have been 
taken to forward the object. The distracted state 
of the country, the want of finances, the secret 
hostility of the clergy, and the indolence of the 
government have all operated againt its estab- 
lishment. But it cannot be delayed many years. 
A repubhcan form of government is more than 
any other a government of opinion, and it will 
soon be found vain to boast of a freedom whose 
root is rottenness. Knowledge, universally diffu- 
sed, is the vital sap of the tree of liberty, and with- 
out this strengthening impulse in every branch, its 
beautiful foliage will fade and wither. The page 
of history proves to us that monarchies may exist 
in the midst of moral and intellectual darkness, 
but republicanism is a plant of hght, and will 
perish if the sources of its life and vigour be long 
withdrawn. If therefore Gnatimala maintains 



105 

her independence, she will early apply a remedy 
to the universal ignorance which prevails among 
her sons, and from this source alone can any con- 
siderable improvement in public morals rationally 
be expected. 



14 



CHAPTER 1\ 

Amusements, — TJteatre, — Bull Fights. — -Life- 
rature, — Newspapers, — -Booksellers, — Fine 
Arts, ^c. SfC. 

The* stranger's first impression, that Guati- 
mala is exceedingly dull and lifeless, will not, in 
all probability, be materially changed on a more 
intimate acquaintance; especially if he be one of 
that numerous class to whose very existence pub- 
lic amusements seem necessary, since there is 
not, perhaps, a city in the w orld where div ersions 
of every species are more neglected. 

The theatre,* established about a year ago, 
is not much better in appearance than a 
country barn. In the heavy showers which fi-e- 
quently fall during the rainy season the water 
trickles through the roof, both into the pit and 



* The author would not have noticeJ an amusement, tlie moral tendency 
of which he considers ruinous, had it not been to illustrate the character of 
a people who can bear with no purer substitute for a barbarous exhibi- 
tion than a licentious theatre. He does not know that the failure of the 
esperiment can be regretted. Whether any thing would hare been gain- 
ed by the change may well be doubted. \Mien will they learn that aa 
early education in the principles of the Bible can alcne effect any impcr- 
*ant cliange in the habits and aianners of a nation ' 



107 

boxes ; and more than once, umbrellas have been 
as usefully employed within, as without the house, 
The scenery is wretchedly painted, and the per- 
formers, with the exception of two European 
comedians, are said to be inferior to the lowest 
village strollers. The numbers who attended 
at the beginning of the year, were not sufficient 
to pay the expenses, and the company having 
struggled some time against the losses connected 
with empty benches, gave public notice, in the 
month of July, 1827, that owing to the thin at- 
tendance of the citizens, the performances would 
cease, and there is now little prospect of their 
being renewed. 

This species of amusement, was originally es- 
tablished in the hope that it might become popu- 
lar, and supersede, in great measure, the bar- 
barous diversions of the bull-ring; but, although 
the pieces chosen were sufficiently licentious, and 
the dances somewhat indecent, with the addition- 
al temptation of the performances being held on / 
Sundays and saints' days, it was not sufficient to 
wean the worthy citizens from their favourite 
'' Toros,'''' and the exhibitions of the latter are still 
well attended. These, however, only take place 
in the dry season, and are neither conducted in so 
cruel a manner as in Spain, or the other parts of 
America, nor is the same degree of skill and 
courage displayed by the combatants. In the 



108 

eye of the connoiseur, they are deemed far infe- 
rior to similar exhibitions in Mexico ; but they 
still possess sufficient attractions to draw crowds 
of every rank, and of each sex, to witness the 
barbarous spectacle, and to be brutalized by its 
heart-hardening tendencies. 

A few large card parties, a solitary ball, and 
one or two billiard tables, will complete the cata- 
logue, with the exception of that infamous nest 
of vice and cruelty — the cock-pit — which has, 
however, fallen into disrepute, and is only attend- 
ed by the most depraved part of the people. The 
most successful speculations in this department 
have been those of travelling troops of equestrians 
and jugglers ; but as they do not form any perma- 
nent source of amusement, they can hardly be 
considered as belonging to the city. 

To name the word literature, in connexion 
with this part of Spanish America, seems ahnost 
ridiculous ; yet, a slight sketch of the labours of 
the printing presses of Guatimala may not be 
altogether uninteresting. At what period this 
art was first introduced it is impossible to say ; 
but it must have been exercised in the old city 
for above a century ; since a treatise on practical 
arithmetic, by Father Padilla, a secular priest, 
was printed there in the year 1732. Whether any 
other work, equally useful, has issued from the 



109 

wails of the printing-office since that period, is a 
problem it perhaps would be difficult to solve. 

Its chief occupation is to reprint papers from 
Rome, to publish the letters and charges of the 
archbishop, with now and then a declamatory 
sermon ; and to supply the good Catholics with 
little volumes of prayers and devotional exercises, 
for peculiar times and seasons. Since the revo- 
lution, however, three others have been establish- 
ed, which find employment in publishing the 
newspapers. A number of these publications have 
at various times, seen the light ; but with the 
greater part, it has been but to be born, and die. 
At present they are three in number, and pub- 
lished weekly: one called the Gazette of the 
Government; another, the Gazette of the State; 
and the third. The Indicador. All these support 
the measures of the present administration ; are 
equally dull and uninteresting, and have a very 
limited sale. No news makes its appearance in 
any of them until it has been generally known in 
the city for a month, excepting official govern- 
ment papers, which are exceedingly long and 
tedious ; and with these their columns are mostly 
filled. As the presses obtain little other employ- 
ment, they of course are not very profitable to 
their owners. 

The last book published, was a volume of poet- 
ical fables, by* a Dr. Goyena, who styles himself 



no 

a son of Central America. These possess consi- 
derable merit, and display a degree of talent, 
which under proper cultivation, would have 
raised their author to eminence. The sale of 
them, however, has been scarcely sufficient to 
cover his expenses, and the book has not raised 
its literary parent from that poverty to which 
literature, especially of a poetical kind, almost 
invariably subjects its votaries. A system of 
stenography has also been prepared by one of 
the priests ; but finding it impossible to obtain a 
sufficient number of subscribers to defray ex- 
penses, he has wisely abstained from printing. 

Engraving is executed neatly, but the artists 
obtain no employ. The supply of books is by 
no means deficient, and rather exceeds the de- 
mand than otherwise. Spanish editions of heavy 
books, such as Universal Histories, &c. may be 
found in the stores of the old merchants, and 
lighter works, chiefly translations from the 
French, and many of them very exceptionable, 
are to be met with in two or three different shops, 
opened by agents of French booksellers. Mr. 
Ackerman, of London, has certainly rendered a 
much greater service to the country, in the class 
of books and prints which he has endeavoured to 
introduce. His elementary catechisms are ex- 
ceedingly valuable, and his drawings and fancy 
articles will probably tend to foster, if not to 



Ill 

create a taste for the fine arts. In these, many 
of the natives excel; a fact, which may be 
proved by reference to the various sculptures 
and copies of paintings which have been executed 
by their different artists. Indeed, in the present 
day, they can boast a miniature painter alto- 
gether self-taught, who, for exactness of resem- 
blance, if not for dehcacy of finish, may be placed 
in competition with almost any European. 

As musical instrument makers, they are by no 
means contemptible. Two or three of the organs 
used in the churches, and particularly a very fine 
one in the cathedral, were manufactured in the 
city, and both in tone and outward ornament, 
they are equal to the majority built in Europe. 
Every species of fancy work they produce with 
great delicacy. The makers of artificial flowers 
surpass in the exactness of their imitations of na- 
ture our English manufacturers ; and the workers 
in wax, a tribe little known amongst us, succeed 
admirably in the production of m-odels and spe- 
cimens. 



CHAPTER V. 

Religious Processions^— Masked Dancers^-— 
Clergy^ regular and secular^ — Ecclesiastical 
Quarrels^ — Low State of true Piety ^ — Ex- 
tracts from Journal. 

Under the bead of amusements, rather than 
devotional exercises, ought to be classed those 
numerous and splendid processions which claim 
so frequently the time and reverence of all classes 
of the community in catholic countries. In Gua- 
timala scarcely a day passes without some one or 
other of these pageants inviting the attention of 
the devout, and the laugh of the scorner. A 
slight account of the celebrated one termed Cor- 
pus will enable the reader to judge of the rest. 

This takes place in the month of June ; and 
on the day set apart for the festivity, the shops 
are closed, and business suspended. About ten 
o'clock the cavalcade moves from the cathedral. 
A troop of military marching to a slow tune lead 
the way, and are followed by six of the finest 
Indian girls that can be procured, bearing large 
wax candles, and dressed in the ancient costume 



113 

of their tribes, accompanied by the great drum 
carried on the back of an Indian, and beaten by 
two others. These are succeeded by men bearing 
on their shoulders wooden platforms, on which 
are placed images of saints. Other representations 
of beatified cardinals and bishops follow, escorted 
by angels with spreading wings. Then succeeds 
an immense statue of St. Peter bearing the keys, 
and supported by angels on each side. Other 
images pass forward in succession and immedi- 
ately precede the Host, which is carried under a 
splendid canopy, and accompanied by the arch- 
bishop and the dignified clergy. The various 
orders of friars, the curas and the coUegial stu- 
dents in their robes follow, and fresh images of 
saints and angels, with a new troop of military 
bring up the rear. 

Proceeding round the Plaza, the procession 
stops at every corner, where are erected at con- 
siderable expense large altars, covered with ar- 
tificial flowers, looking-glasses, and wax candles , 
while thousands of kneeling spectators form a 
deep line on either side. Its setting out and re- 
turn to the cathedral are notified by frequent dis- 
charges of sky-rockets, and the houses by which 
the host passes are hung with red cloth or silk. 

By these ridiculous, yet dazzling shows, the 
church of Rome firmly attaches to her interests 
a superstitious and ignorant mob, and still reaps 

15 



new benetits from that artful policy by which her 
Jesuitical children led nations captive, and ar- 
rived at a degree of power and influence ob- 
noxious and dangerous to their haughty parent. 
On the imagination of the simple Indians these 
splendid spectacles take a powerful hold, uniting, 
as many of them do, several of the heathenish 
rites of their ancient superstitions, with the showy 
ritual of a corrupted Christianity. 

Walking through the streets one day, I was 
painfully surprised to observe a large statue of 
the Saviour borne on a platform by four men, 
and accompanied by ten or a dozen wretches gro- 
tesquely dressed and as absurdly masked, who 
were dancing before it in order to excite the 
mirth of the populace. It seemed to me a me- 
lancholy fulfilment of the prophetic declaration. 
" He is become the laugh of the drutikard, and 
the sport offools.'^ But such is the temporising, 
and worldly spirit of this Babylon of the nations, 
that the only reply I could get from one of her 
worthiest ministers to an indignant remonstrance 
was, " We do not approve it, but it is necessary 
to give life to the festivity !'• 

Perhaps there is no country in the world where 
religious processions are so numerous, or the 
great mass of the people so fanatical as in Gua- 
timala. Always distinguished for its rigid atten- 
tion to the ceremonies of the church : it now 



115 

stands pre-eminent. In Buenos Ayres, Columbia, 
and Peru, the revolution has in this respect af- 
fected an important change ; and even in Mexico, 
where the power of the clergy is still consider- 
able, its superstitious frenzy is considerably re- 
pressed. But here every thing remains the same 
as before, not a priest has been ejected, or a friar 
displaced; and although their temporal influence 
has been somewhat lessened, their spiritual autho- 
rity remains undiminished. 

A singular proof of their power to influence the 
decrees of the government has just been given. 
In July 1826, the supreme government, in imita- 
tion of the other republics, passed a law fixing the 
age at which young people should be permitted to 
enter the religious houses. The clergy resisted 
the enforcement of it, and in Sept. 1827, the pre- 
sent party, by a ridiculous decree in which they 
contradict every statement they had previously 
made, have abrogated the former law, and mere 
children are again permitted to immolate them- 
selves for life. 

In number they are fewer in proportion to the 
population than in Mexico, and this circumstance 
may, in some measure, have contributed to their 
security. From a statement issued by the go- 
vernment, it appears that there are not more than 
300 friars in the United Provinces, of whom 
about 200 reside inthe city: while the different 



female convents do not contain more than 150 
nuns. Of the secular clergy no census has been 
published. Although considerably more nume- 
rous than the regular they bear no proportion to 
the clerical body of 3Iexico. nor does there exist 
amongst them that enormous disparity of revenue 
which Humboldt describes as disirracin^ the 
churchin New Spain. The pecuhar privileges of 
the ecclesiastical courts remain untouched. The 
archbishop still has the power of punishing his 
clergy by continement. and although for crimes 
against society or the state, a priest may be judged 
by the civil courts, no punishment can be inflicted 
without the consent of the archbishop, to whom 
he is delivered. 

In political matters the body is at the present 
moment somewhat divided. The disputes with 
the state of St. Salvador are intimately connected 
with the claim of a Dr. Delgado to a bishopric. 
and although by far the greater majority cleave 
to the archbishop, and the decisions of the court 
of Rome, still there are a few stubborn dissen- 
tients who have placed themselves out of the 
reach of ecclesiastical discipline. 

The friars as a body still live in hope of the re- 
conquest of the country by Spain, and the conse- 
quent re-establishment of their influence. I was 
much amused to observe the earnestness and 
mysterious shrusf with which one of the old 



117 

fathers inquired the latest news from Europe when 
we visited his convent, where we found him busily 
employed in reading a volume of Ivanhoe, and I 
doubt not devoutly wishing that the happy days 
of darkness there depicted might once more re- 
turn, and Friar Tuck and his Britannic Majesty 
again be bosom friends. A report had been cir- 
culated in the city, that a Spanish expedition was 
preparing in the Havanna, and his tottering limbs 
seemed to derive new strength from the rumour. 
It was evident enough that he thought Spain the 
most powerful empire of the world, although 
policy obliged him in great measure to conceal 
his opinions. 

The controversy before alluded to, between the 
two provinces with respect to the right of ap- 
pointing a bishop, threatens to strike a fatal 
blow at the influence of the church. In Salvador 
its effects are plainly visible in the almost univer- 
sal infidelity which prevails, and among the mid- 
dle classes of Guatimala the same epidemic ma- 
lady is rapidly spreading. The spiritual part of 
the controversy commenced when the people of 
San Salvador, claiming their right to create a 
bishopric, appointed Dr. Delgado to the office. 
The archbishop of Guatimala declaring the ap- 
pointment to be a privilege of Rome, refused to 
own his new brother, and appealed to the Pope. 

A paper war immediately commenced, one 
party attacked, and the other defended. In an 



118 

amusing pamphlet, Father Jose Andres, after 
denying the right of any government to interfere 
with the spiritualities or secularities of the church, 
denounces San Salvador as an infamous adultress, 
denies the power of the new bishop to absolve 
from sin, or to administer the sacraments, assures 
the inferior clergy that as God scattered the tribes 
of Israel who separated themselves from the 
house of David, so surely would he destroy those 
who separated themselves from their lawful 
bishop, and calls upon the people to come out 
from the tabernacles of these impious men, 
lest they be involved in their sins. He insists 
that the tithes of San Salvador, are due to the 
church of Guati mala, and says they who withhold 
them, rob not man but God ; concluding with 
many assurances that money is of little value 
when compared with the prayers and intercessions 
of their lawful spiritual advisers. To this Dr. 
Canas replies in another pamphlet, and the wor- 
thy friar returns again to the field with fi-esh vi- 
gour, and fulminates new anathemas against the 
self elected bishop. He reminds him of the heavy 
punishment inflicted upon Ham the son of Noah, 
for despising an earthly parent, and argues that 
if his punishment were heavy, much more severe 
will be the lot of those who despise their spiritual 
parent the Pope. 

In the midst of these disputes the march of in- 
fidelity besran to be perceived by some of the 



119 

clergy. An earnest address to the clerical body 
both regular and secular was published by three 
priests, in which after lamenting the prevailing 
spirit among the people, to penetrate into myste- 
ries, and both in public and in private to ridicule 
the dogmas of religion, they call upon their 
brethren to exert themselves with fresh vigour, 
and unitedly to oppose the new doctrine. These 
efforts have however produced little effect in ar- 
resting the progress of the contagion, which is 
rapidly spreading far and wide. San Salvador, 
at present in a state of complete anarchy, sends 
forth a weekly newspaper in which the authority of 
the pope, the celibacy of the clergy, and monastic 
institutions are openly ridiculed, and quotations 
from Voltaire striking at the root of all religion, 
are constantly inserted. 

In the midst of these ominous events, the arch- 
bishop under the influence of that infatuation 
Vi^hich so frequently clings to men in desperate 
circumstances, has threatened to excommunicate 
all who obey the new bishop, and has published a 
violent sermon in defence of the Pope. A few 
extracts may not be uninteresting. In the dedi- 
cation to the most holy father Leo XII. the arch- 
bishop, after rejoicing in the zeal with which his 
holiness has defended the rights of the chair of 
St. Peter, adds, " We pray that holy apostle that 
he may obtain from God for you long life and 



120 

tranquil times, and that you may see all this new 
world ever in your fold, and may augment the 
number of those sheep which Christ has com- 
mended to you as his vicar on earth, to lead and 
guide to heaven." The sermon commences by 
an address to the clergy urging them to zeal in 
these troublous times, and to keep firm in their 
obedience to the holy see. This preliminary ex- 
hortation concludes thus, " behold then the ne- 
cessity of being within the divine bark of the 
fisherman, lest we make shipwreck of the faith 
and become the plaything of the waves, or the 
unhappy victims of piratical mariners. This tu- 
multuous sea can only be navigated in one boat, 
in order to arrive at eternal happiness. This the 
greatest enemies of the church have confessed, 
and I am about to prove it, as a warning to those 
incautious and malicious men, who would cast 
America out of this one ship, and leave her to be 
tossed in the tempestuous sea of every heresy. 
For power to address you with effect, and so as 
to produce fruit, aid me to implore the divine 
grace through the intercession of Mary, our be- 
loved mother saluting her with the angel " Ave 
Maria, &.c." 

The sermon is founded upon Matt. xiv. 28: 
'' Lord, if it be thou, command that I come 
to thee upon the water." Its style is declama- 
tory, and its object is to prove that there is no 



121 

salvation but through the See of Rome. In it 
he alludes to the wish of some to separate the 
Americas from the Pope; warns them against 
following the wicked example of Henry VIII. 
and Luther, the two great reformers, and quotes 
thirty confessions of learned Protestants, who 
acknowledge salvation Tnay be found in the 
church of Rome : from whence he shrewdly ar- 
gues, that since Protestants allow this fact, while 
Catholics assert salvation to be impossible out of 
their fold, it must be good policy in all to abide 
within the pale. 

He then concludes thus : " O, priests of the 
Most High ! now that you have heard from 
the mouth of your enemies, that most interesting 
of all acknowledgements, that there is salvation 
in the church of Rome, remain firmly seated in 
the ship of Peter, which can never sink ; be 
united and obedient to the chair of Peter, which 
can never err ; stand firm upon that Rock which 
can never be moved, the only anchor of our faith, 
and of our eternal safety. My brethren, vene- 
rable for your faith, piety, doctrine, veneration, 
and obedience to the vicar of Jesus Christ, and 
successor of St. Peter, announce these truths to 
your people, that they may be preserved from the 
flood of heresy which inundates the earth, in this 
only ark of Noah. Think upon, then, and preach 
these sayings, that following the voice of the only 

16 



122 

shepherd to whom God has given the keys of 
heaven, v^^e may merit and obtain an entrance 
into the church triumphant, by that port whither 
the holy and secure ship of the apostle, ever 
living in his successors, is now bearing us. Amen." 

In the midst of controversies such as these, 
it is vain to look for many followers of the meek 
and lowly Jesus. The votaries both of supersti- 
tion and infidelity make their voices to be heard 
in the streets, but true piety loves the shade, and 
seeks retirement. It may be that there are those 
who have not bowed the knee to this two-fold 
Baal; but if they exist, it is in the secrecy of the 
closet, and who they are must be left for the day 
of judgment to declare. 

In the absence of better comforters, the lower 
orders repair at certain seasons, to worship those 
images which have become celebrated for their 
miraculous properties. These pilgrimages are 
often distant, and the journey arduous ; but what 
will not superstition accomplish ? 

The church of Esquipulas is famous on ac- 
count of its containing an image of the Saviour 
crucified, executed in ebony, in 1595, by Ca- 
tano, an eminent artist. Its fame for mi- 
racles was so great that crowds of pilgrims 
formerly came from different parts of Mexico, 
and on the fifteenth of January, its festival, 
80.000 people have been known to assemble. 



123 

At the present day, the number is greatly de- 
creased, and not more than from 10 to 20,000 
congregate. 

At Viejo, about four leagues from' Leon, is an 
image of the Virgin, which is visited in the month 
of February. This effigy is honoured, accord- 
ing to the account of the natives, as being the 
gift of the immaculate Virgin St^- Theresa. In 
short, every province has its wonder-working 
image, which, notwithstanding poHtical changes, 
will continue to be worshipped until the universal 
diffusion of knowledge, and especially of Chris- 
tian knowledge, dissipates the foolish vision, and 
scatters their deluded votaries. 

During my stay I was enabled to procure the 
Bibles and Testaments of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society, and the publications of the Spa- 
nish Translation Society, to be exposed in one of 
the shops for sale ; but from what I was able to 
observe, as well as from the number disposed of, 
there existed no demand for such books. Other 
means of throwing them into circulation are not 
practicable at present. What changes may take 
place in this respect, before long, it is impossible 
to say; but it is to be feared many years will 
elapse before any thing like a taste either for 
rational instruction or for the most valuable of 
all knowledge, will become oreneral. 



124 

A few extracts from a journal I kept while iu 
Giiatimala, will probably exhibit more vividly the 
true character of the rigid Catholics than any 
lengthened disquisition. These memoranda are 
therefore given in the same form in which they 
were noted down for my own future perusal, 
without any attention to order. 

June 3. A young student for the church visited 
us. I offered him Bogue on the New Testament, 
and Paley's Evidences, to read. He looked at 
them, said they were very good, but laid them 
tlown. 

June 4. Passed a convent of monks w^ith M. 
who showed me the building, and asked my opinion 
of monastic institutions. I replied *• let your light 
so shine before men, &c.'' She said her father 
wished her when a girl to take the veil, but she 
declined, and thought it better to be useful in the 
world. On our return I showed her a copy of 
the Scriptures as the ground work of all our be- 
lief She asked if it were our custom to read it 
morning and evening. I said "Yes," "'Very good," 
she replied, but exliibited no wish to read it for 
herself. 

June S. Padre B. visited us this morning. He 
seems a very intelligent man. and is able to read 
and translate English with facility. This he has 
acquired solely by the assistance of an old French 



125 

and English dictionary. His opinions are liberal, 
he regretted much the want of books in America, 
and attributed it chiefly to the inquisition, which 
had prevented the entry of any scientific works 
whatever. He asked me some questions about the 
Protestant religion. I showed him Doddridge's 
Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul, in Spa- 
nish, and offered to lend it to him, but he declined; 
he looked at a few pages and said it was very good. 
I showed him a Bible in Spanish, he only admired 
the binding. He wished to know the points of 
difference between the Anglican and Roman 
churches. I gave him an English Prayer-book, 
and pointed out to him the articles. When he 
came to those on purgatory, transubstantiation, 
and the adoration of the saints, he shrugged his 
shoulders, and observed opinions differed. I re- 
ferred him to the Scriptures, but he declined con- 
troversy. From what I have seen of him I sup- 
pose him to be a man fully aware of the follies of 
tne Romish church, but unwilling to avow senti- 
ments which cut at the very root of priestly in- 
fluence. He inquired about the mode of visiting 
the sick and dying, of administering the sacra- 
ments, &/C. I explained fully, and informed him 
that the padres of the Anglican church did not 
profess to forgive sins, because they knew he only 
who could read the heart was able. 



V2i\ 

June 9. Visited an auction of the goods, pic- 
tures and reliques of a deceased padre. Tlie room 
was full of priests. One of them was bitterly 
complaining that no one would buy the reliques. 
These consisted of the gums of some of the saints, 
enclosed in silver, and a few little images made of 
the ashes of others. The poor priest declared the 
neglect of them to be scandalous, some one had 
observed they were of no use. The paintings 
were mostly of saints, badly coloured and sold 
very high. While we were here the archbishop 
arrived, he was received with the greatest respect, 
all the priests remaining uncovered in his pre- 
sence. 

June 10. Met with the Canonigo T. When 
inlbrmed that I was a Protestant, he eagerly en- 
tered into controversy. I declmed setting up one 
religious establishment in opposition to another, 
and reterred all to the Scriptures. He seems a 
well read and intelligent man, but better ac- 
quainted with controversy than the Bible ; and did 
not at all appear to like the doctrine of the reli- 
gion of Jesus being so simple, that •• a wayfaring 
man though a fool cannot err therein," The 
priests have been careful to leave the impression 
that Proiestantisim is necessarily careless, both of 
doctrine and practice. 

Jime 15. X. called, and finding me alone ridi- 
culed the approaching procession of Corpus as 



127 

absurd. He is evidently an infidel : tiaving never 
seen religion in a simpler and purer form, he con- 
siders it altogether a system of priestcraft. 
Visited his house the following day. The first 
book I savs^ w^as Voltaire's Philosophical Dic- 
tionary. Numbers of French books, although < 
prohibited, have been introduced here. French 
novels of the worst description are to be met with 
in abundance, most of these are printed cheaply, 
with plates wretchedly coloured. Subsequently 
he received of me Bogue's Essay, and a copy of 
the New Testament, both of which he promised 
to read with care and attention. 

Visited M. a devoted Catholic old lady. We 
found her busily occupied in preparing an altar 
for the approaching procession of Corpus. The 
base was of wood, covered with looking glass, 
and hung round with cut glass in festoons, with 
glass candlesticks. Above this was the altar, on 
which was placed six massy silver candlesticks, 
and the whole covered with beautifully executed 
artificial flowers, of which she had made three 
large boxes full. The expense of this was about 
150 dollars. To my inquiry as to the benefit of 
these pageants, the reply was, " It is the custom 
of our church." She expressed herself very anx- 
ious for my salvation, and assured me it could 
not be out of the pale of the Romish church. 
Two priests came in while we were talking. She 



128 

told them who I was, said I had a good heart, 
but unhappily was not a Catholic. One of the 
priests, who appeared remarkably ignorant, asked 
if the English were Christians, and seemed much 
surprised when told they believed in the divinity 
of the Son of God and the influences of the Holy 
Spirit. He seemed to have an idea that Henry 
VIII. oftended with the pope, had established in 
England a religion of his own, solely the oflT- 
spring of his own brain ; and could scarcely be 
persuaded that marriage in England was binding 
for life : this I found afterwards to be very gene- 
rally discredited. He then proceeded to argue 
most vehemently in defence of the Pope and of 
general councils, the doctrine of the real pre- 
sence, and the mediation of the saints, quoting 
doctors of theology with the greatest rapidity, 
and seemed much surprised I was not at once a 
convert, assuring me when I had heard all the 
proofs it was impossible to resist conviction. 

June 18. The young student before referred to 
again called, and found me reading the Scriptures. 
I requested him to hear me, and correct my pro- 
nunciation, and by this means read to him the 
fifth and sixth chapters of St. Matthew. He was 
evidently pleased when I concluded, and showed 
no disposition to hear or read more. The second 
verse of the third chapter is translated " Hacecl 
Penitenciiu and not a? it ouaht to have been. 



i2^ 

arrepentios. To discover the impression letl upon 
his mind I asked him if the two terms were syno- 
nymous. His reply was " No ! Arrepentios signi- 
fies repentance in the heart. Haced Penitencia, 
the penance of the church, the mortification of the 
body." I had heard it asserted before that no one 
could be misled by the latter expression, but it is 
evident that it will be used to support one of the 
most dangerous heresies of the church of Rome. 
He subsequently brought me a defence of popery, 
which he wished me to accept, and received from 
me in return the first volume of Milner's Eccle- 
siastical History, which has been translated into 
Spanish. 

Sunday. On this day the shops are closed, and 
business suspended, but the markets are carried 
on as usual, and the theatre is open. The Sab- 
bath is by no means sanctified. Three priests 
were playing at cards with G. in the morning, and 
in the intervals of the game, the propriety of al- 
lowing the theatre to be open was discussed. 
Some of them argued that in time of war, it was 
more suitable to think of God, to pray and to fast, 
than to enjoy the merriment of a comedy ; but no 
one seemed to think his own employment unsuit- 
able for the day. S. and three friends called to 
invite us to accompany them to the theatre. We 
declined, stating our reasons. They comforted 
themselves by the thought that if we kept the 

17 



130 

Sabbath more strictly than they, we did not attend 
to the various feasts which the Romish church 
sets apart as sacred. It seems out of their power 
to imagine that a rehgion of love can exist, and 
can only conceive of the Bible being read by Pro- 
testants, as a labour for which they hope to re- 
ceive heaven. T. who was present, appeared to 
know something of English customs, and explain- 
ed the strictness with which the sabbath was ob- 
served as well as some other peculiarities, and 
ended by saying — Religious Protestants read 
the Bible every day, they believe only in the 
Bible, they regulate all their conduct exactly by 
the Bible. They are Biblists. The rest were 
silent and did not seem exactly to hke this defi- 
nition of Protestantism. Happy would it be for 
Protestants were it more generally a true one. 

June 29. Called at the house of Donna Maria 
E. She has a sister in the convent of St^ Clara. 
She had just heard from her, stating how happy 
and contented she was in her solitude, and would 
on no account change her mode of life. That 
the world may be in the heart, although the eye 
is closed to it, they seem to have no conception. 

July 12. Padre called in to-day. He 

asked several questions about Europe, displaying 
the grossest ignorance. He remarked, that the 
whole of Europe was not so large as Guatimala, 
with several other observations equally learned 



131 . 

Observing a pair of globes, he looked at them for 
some time, and astounded me by the discovery 
that the terrestrial represented Europe, and the 
celestial, America. How such men can have 
got ordination, seems astonishing. 

July 17. N. has informed me very gravely to- 
day, that the question whether or no the CathoHc 
religion shall be the religion of England, has been 
discussed in the commons, and lost only by a 
majority of four. From the same quarter, he has 
heard that in the next year an act will be passed 
in England, suppressing all the sects, and per- 
mitting only popery, and that the cabinets of 
Madrid and Vienna were treating in order to 
make Catholicism the universal religion. This 
information he has received from some priests, 
and all seem highly delighted with the thought. 
Yet this individual, on commercial subjects, is a 
very sensible man. Such remarks only prove 
the excessive ignorance that exists with respect 
to the nations of Europe. 

July 22. A. sat with with me some time to-day, 
and blamed me for not confessing to the priest. I 
gave him my reasons for not doing it. He ended 
his defence of confession by saying ; " But I ought 
not to talk with you on these subjects : it is sin. 
I have confessed to my priest a former con- 
versation with you, and he tells me I ought not 
to enter into any controversy. The priests only 



are siilticiently learned for that purpose. He 
assures me it is a sin to refer to the Bible, with- 
out the notes of the church." I said, can the 
priest answer for you to God, or have you to an- 
swer for yourself. His answer was melancholy, 
but striking : '• I am a plain man of business, and 
have had no opportunities of study. He is my 
spiritual adviser ; I have confidence in him, and 
if he leads me into error, my blood is upon his 
head." Had his confessor been present, he would 
without doubt have willingly received the respon- 
sibility with a blindness of heart equal to those of 
old, who on a dilierent occasion, exclaimed, 
'' His blood be upon us and upon our children." 

July 26. This is St. James' day ; all the shops 
are shut, and it is kept as a feast day. St. James is 
considered the patron saint of the Americas, and 
also of Gallicia in Spain. According to their ac- 
count, he drove the Moors from Gallicia, appear- 
ing before the armies of the Christians on a white 
horse. All these thinos. with an infinitv of fables 
which belong to the middle ages, are here tirmly 
believed. 

July 30. Visited the Cathedral this night, to hear 
vespers, previous to the celebration of the feast 
of San Ignatius De Loyola, the founder of the 
order of Jesuits. It is a neat building, and has 
a fine organ. On this evening an image of 
Loyola was placed upon an altar, beautifully 



133 

decorated with artificial flowers, and to it, as well 
as to the empty pulpit, every passer-by bent the 
knee. I felt myself an intruder. I could not con- 
form, and I fear only excited anger by non-con- 
formity ; indeed, there is a degree of danger, 
which it is wrong needlessly to incur. 

August 6. The total absence of piety and 
spirituality in the forms of worship, is but too 
evident. The mere repetition of words, although 
with a smiling or laughing countenance, is con- 
sidered sufficient, and in many instances a want 
of decency is observable which even policy would 
seem to forbid. 

August 13 Day for the celebration of the 
transit of the Virgin. In the house of every 
rigid Catholic, an altar is erected in the sala 
or parlour, and recitations performed from three 
till four in the afternoon. The one raised in the 
house where we dwell, is a cushion, stuffed with 
wool, and covered with gold lace and spangles; 
on this, an image of the Virgin lying dead, is 
placed. She is clothed in gold and spangles^ 
and her head-dress as well as her pillows, are of 
the best Flemish lace. From three to four pray- 
ers are recited to her before this image, and two 
waxen candles, in silver candlesticks, are kept 
continually burning. For fifteen nights succes- 
sively this altar is to be illuminated, and in addi- 



134 

won to tlio at\onioon prayors. rtvitations are to 
bo ro[H\itod hctbrt^ it ovorv niiiht. at tMiiht o'clock. 
1 asktni how this couUl ho rooonoiloil with the 
honour tliio on\\ to tho " t>no >lothator appoiiitod 
botwoou tuni aiui man — tho ;nan Christ Josus:** 
but oouUi Jiot no othor roply than, " Avo JMaria 
!5»antissiina.*' Tho \ irgin, is horo tho ohiot' ohjoot 
of adoration : it' any tiling bo Uist. she is sohcitod 
to rostoro it, or to liiroot whoro it may ho t'ound ; 
if any ho siok, sho is implorod to hoal, and on 
ovory oooasiou is addrossod as an ap^KMut od mo- 
dialor. Tho tradition givon rospootvuij; hor tran- 
sit, as it is tormtni. in a small h«.H>k ot'prayors tor 
tho t\t'toon day^, is, *' That at tho day ot' Ponto- 
CiVit. slio was in tho houso with tho apivstles, aiid 
was th»^ tirst who roioivod tho aift of tho spirit; 
that a voioo was hoard tVom lioavon, saying, 
* Como. my dovo. my triond, n^y sjh^uso I' and that 
immodiatoly hor soul asoondtnl to hoavon, her 
body romaining on tho oarth, shining liko tho 
sun.** Tho ajK^tlcis it is addod, huritnl it, and 
atlor thrtH^ days, it was raistnl again, and exalted 
at tho right hand of the Saviour, where slie has 
siuee romaiiuHl. to intercede with her Son, for all 
the faithtul. 

X August •^6. Violent thunderstorm with very 
vivid tlashes of lightning: the electric tluid fell 
in six or seven ditVoroni parts of the city, scorch- 
ing the goixis in some of the tiendas, but happily 



135 

no lives were lost. At the time it happened we 
were in the house of Y. who lighted candles be- 
fore an image of the Virgin, and began to recite 
prayers. As it continued, still doubting his secu- 
rity, he drew out a charm or waxen relique, 
which had been purchased at a high price, from 
Rome, and placed it upon the table, and kneel- 
ing before it felt himself at rest, and out of 
danger. 

September 19. In conversing with the priests 
I have frequently found it difficult to restrain a 
smile at the eagerness with which they disclaim 
coercive methods of conversion. Conviction only 
is in their mouths, as if the Romish Church had 
never persecuted. 

T. to-day defended the worship of images be- 
cause they were representations of that which is 
holy. I read her the second commandment, and 
she at once denied that it was in the Catholic 
Bible. I fetched her one with the notes of the 
church, and then she believed, finding it ex- 
plained away. This did not surprise me, as in 
all the catechisms for the children, and copies of 
the commandments, the second is always omit- 
ted, while to make up the number, the tenth is 
divided into two. The fourth is also always 
greatly altered, the feasts of the church being 
substituted for the Sabbath. Such abominable 



130 

corruptions of Scripture does Papacy permit aitd 
sanction. 

November 22. Padre in conversation to- 
day, when heated by some paragraphs he had seen 
in the new^spaper, declared, that if he had tlie pow- 
er he would at once extinguish the art of printing, 
and forbid education. To the instruction of the 
Indians he always objects, as calculated to make 
them ungovernable. That this is a general, 
although suppressed feeling, there can be no 
doubt, and it might be a question worth discuss- 
ing, how far an exclusive Papal establishment 
can possibly exist without impairing the liberties 
of an infant republic, and whether the genius of 
the one is not directly opposed to the prosperity 
of the other. The Italian republics might be 
adduced as a proof of the practicability of their 
union ; but at that time religious opinions did not 
clash, besides which, they were governed altoge- 
ther by an aristocracy. Louisiana and Georgia 
may be said to be CathoHc States, but they have 
no exclusive establishment. 

November 24. Padre — — wishing to convert 
me, asked what penalty would be inflicted upon me 
on my return to England, if I went to mass and 
conformed to the Catholic ceremonies here ? I 
assured him, none; at which he expressed his 
'surprise that I did not conform when in a Catho- 



137 

lie country. I told him, religion was too import- 
ant to change with climate, but he at once offered 
to answer to God for me, assuring me he pos- 
sessed the power of pardoning sin, and that what 
he sealed on earth would be sealed in heaven ; 
yet this man is totally destitute of every kind of 
religious feeling, and as ignorant as it is possible 
for man to be. 

November 27. Visited M. to-day, who was 
very ill and thought herself dying. I have fre- 
quently been pleased to hear her speak on reli- 
gious subjects, her doctrines always appearing 
more scriptural than the rest ; yet I found her, 
in the fear of death perfectly miserable. In my 
presence she entreated the priest not to leave her 
for a moment, invoked all the celebrated images 
of the country, ordered candles to be placed be- 
fore the images in the house, called loudly upon 
our Lord of Esquipulas, (a celebrated wonder- 
working image above 150 miles distant) and vowed 
if he would restore her, to make a pilgrimage to his 
shrine, and to give twenty dollars to the poor of 
Esquipulas. In all this, her thoughts never turned 
upon the sacrifice of Christ, or the merits of his 
blood, yet all these things she professes to believe, 
and I have heard her dwell upon them with plea- 
sure in common conversation. 

December 8. Gave to Padre C. a complete set 
of the Spanish tracts, published by- the Religious 

18 



138 

Tract Society in London, which he received with 
the greatest pleasure. I could dispose of any 
number of these productions, but I am not san- 
guine as to the good which might be expected to 
result. It is not for us to decide where God will 
give or where he will withhold the blessing ; but 
viev/ed as means, I conceive millions might be cir- 
culated without the conversion of a single soul from 
the legal and idolatrous system of Popery to en- 
tire faith in the one only Saviour.* From the cir- 
culation of the Scriptures, (even as translated by 
Scio de San Miguel,) good may be anticipated, 
but it is future rather than present. Popery 
throws a thousand chains around its votaries, and 
until these are broken, and the mind emancipated, 
and the whole system exposed as Antichrist, no 
great hope can be entertained for their moral 
regeneration. The desire to possess a Bible, by 
no means implies a sense of its value, or a dispo- 
sition to study it. In Spanish America it has 
been forbidden fruit, and therefore it is longed 
for. If it be read, it is with a mind wholly sub- 
ject to the decisions of the Romish Church, but 
it more frequently happens, that curiosity being 
satisfied, it is left on the shelf neglected and for- 

* The author would by no means be understood to disapprove of the 
publications of this most important institution — so far as they go they are 
excellent The species of Tracts -which he thinks needful could not at pre= 
sent be pat into circujatjon. 



139 

gotten. Considered as seed which may one day 
produce an abundant harvest, its general circu- 
lation is however, highly important. These neg- 
lected copies may lie like so many trains of 
combustible matter among the rubbish by which 
they are surrounded, apparently inefficient and 
harmless, till some second Luther shall do in the 
new world, what his predecessor did in the old, 
boldly apply the torch, and kindle a flame at 
once purifying and enlightening, whose blaze 
shall never be extinguished. 

December 10. Nothing can exceed the vapid- 
ness of the remarks the priests make on the vital 
truths of the Gospel ; they speak of them as of 
subjects which have to be acknowledged, but 
may at the same time be despised with impunity. 

December 20. Padre — — complaining of be- 
ing obliged by his duties to read the service of the 
mass tv^^ice a day — he seems determined however 
to get through it as carelessly as possible, reading 
it aloud before us, and smiling and laughing at . 
the same time. He had the assurance to insist 
at dinner to-day, that God had said in the Gospel 
that the clergy were the darlings of his eye, and 
that were they ever so wicked, the laity had no- 
thing to do with it : this he positively asserted to 
be a literal quotation from Scripture, and his 
hearers humbly acknowledged the orthodoxy of 
his doctrine. 



140 

Jaiiiuii V 6. Padre showed us a silver watch 

he had just received from some one for whom he 
was to say six masses. In all probability some 
poor widow^ has given it to him to say masses for 
the soul of her deceased husband, as in this w^ay 
all the ornaments and plate of those who have 
not money, is generally disposed of. He laugh- 
ing, declares it to be a good bargain, and vows 
he will not say one more than the stipulated 
number. 

Such is Popery, and such are Popish priests in 
Spanish America. That amongst so numerous a 
body, tliere may be found many estimable for 
their virtues, is as certain as that a far more nu- 
merous catalogue might be made of those notori- 
ous for their vices. In retiecting on the degra- 
ded and corrupt state to which the church has 
arrived in these parts, the mind is forcibly struck 
with the striking parallel which might be drawn 
between its ministers and the scribes and Phari- 
sees of old. as depicted by our Lord. Like them 
they have a master whom they reverence more 
than the words of God. — even their own vain 
traditions. Like them they shut up the kingdom 
of heaven against men, neither going in themselves 
nor sufiering them that are entering to go in. 
Like them they devour widows" houses, and for a 
pretence make long prayers. Like them they 
compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and 



141 

when he is made, they make him twofold more 
the child of hell than themselves. Like them 
they pay strict attention to the external ceremo- 
nial, but omit the weightier matters of the law. 
Like them they boast themselves in the magnifi- 
cence of their temples, and forget that God is not 
worshipped in temples made with hands. Like 
them they clean the outside of the cup and plat- 
ter, but within they are full of extortion and 
excess. Like them they build the tombs of the 
prophets and adore the memory of the saints, 
and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, 
while they themselves are fiUing up the measure 
of the iniquities of their fathers. 

But the parallel may be carried still further, 
against Jerusalem, the city of the God of Israel, 
the peculiar favourite of heaven, and even in the 
midst of all her corruptions, the only centre of true 
religion — against her, notwithstanding all her 
advantages, was the doom pronounced : " Behold, 
your house is left unto you desolate !" Let the 
page of history tell how awfully that doom has 
been fulfilled. Against Rome, the professed head 
of Christendom, who prides herself that her 
bishops are received in direct succession from 
the apostles ; who adores the name of Christ, and 
glories in offering honour to his most devoted 
followers — against her is the sentence gone forth, 



" Double unto her double, according to her works. 
H ww much she hath glorified herself, and lived 
deliciouslv. so much trouble and sorrow give her ; 
for her plagues shall come in one day — death, 
and mourning, and famine ! and she shall be ut- 
terly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord 
God who judgeth her.*' Truly may it be said of 
her. She is as a " vvhited sepulchre, beautiful 
indeed outwardly, but inwardly full of dead men's 
bones and all uncleanness." 



CHAPTER VI 

Climate^ Temperature^ Rainy Season^ 

Thunder Storms^ — Earthquakes, — Debility, 
— Diseases, — Smallpox, 

In describing cities, ruins, or romantic sce- 
nery, every one is in danger of stating rather the 
species than the degree of his enjoyment ; the 
latter is ahnost always exaggerated. And even 
when this is not the case, so much depends upon 
the state of the body and mind of the individual 
at the time he experienced his sensations, that it 
becomes almost impossible for another following 
the same route to bear witness to his fidelity, by 
having enjoyed the same degree of delight, or 
received precisely similar impressions. But in 
giving the climate of any country, or part of a 
country, no such risk is incurred, since of all 
other things this has least to do with the imagina- 
tion. It may, therefore, be asserted, without 
fear of contradiction, that Guatimala literally 
enjoys a perpetual spring. 

Situated at an elevation of about 5000 feet 
above the level of the ocean, in what are called 
by the natives, ^' Tierras Templadas," or the 



141 

temperate regions, this beautiful portion of tlie 
new world never feels the intensity of a sum- 
mer's sun, or knows the stormy blasts of a wintry 
cold. The thermometer, during the v,hoIe year, 
scarcely varies. The average heat, in the mid- 
dle of the day, may be considered as from 68 to 
70 degrees, Fahrenheit, in the shade. 

To this equality of temperature, there are, it 
is true, a few striking exceptions. During the 
period of the north winds, a current of cold air 
sometimes passes over the city in an evening, 
and produces within a few hours a difference of 
twenty degrees. Such changes, however, are 
both rare and transient. 

Although the elevation of Guatimala approach- 
es so near to that at which the clouds float over 
lands contiguous to the sea. this delicious spot is 
scarcely ever enveloped in those thick fogs which 
generally descend upon cities similarly situated. 
The environs, although now neglected, might be 
made to produce every variety of fruits and vege- 
tables, all of which are capable of being brought 
to perfect maturity on the neighbouring hills 
and mountains, which are carpeted, during the 
whole year. \^ith the most beautilul flowers, ex- 
panded in full perfection. 

The seasons, instead of dividing to themselves 
four distinct portions of the year, here mingle, 
and know only the period of the rains, and of the 



145 

dry weather. The latter begins towards the 
close of the month of October, and lasts until the 
end of May, during which time only a few show- 
ers occasionally refresh the thirsty ground. But 
in the beginning of June, the roUing thunders 
and the forked lightning, begin to echo over the 
mountains and illuminate the hills, notifying the 
near approach of the semi-annual rains. The 
clouds, at first seen only as scattered specks on 
the horizon, now begin to congregate in the ze- 
nith, and copious showers swell the channels, and 
pour in torrents along the streets. 

These seasons however are not so gloomy to 
the inhabitants, as the term would lead us to sup- 
pose. From six in the morning, till three or 
four in the afternoon, an unclouded sky generally 
invites the stranger to breathe its pure and genial 
air, and it is seldom before the latter hour that 
the firmament becomes obscured and the rains 
fall. With the exception of some little humidity 
in the atmosphere, no other inconvenience is ex- 
perienced than the obligation to spend the even- 
ings at home, an imprisonment only compulsory 
upon the ladies. 

By the middle of October the north winds begin 
to blow, sweeping along with them the newly- 
formed clouds, accompanied in their retreat as in 
their entry by electrical explosions, and some- 

19 



140 

times by slight shocks of earthquake. In the 
months of November and December, these winds 
blow with considerable force ; and some days in 
the latter month are comparatively cold. Small 
portions of snow fall on the tops of the highest 
mountains, and sufficient ice is congealed to sup- 
ply the city for a few months. 

Earthquakes though not unfrequent, do not 
seem to possess now that destructive force in this 
region, which we are told they exercised in for- 
mer times. The principal ones that have affect- 
ed the city, are thus described by Juarros. He 
informs us, that the first of importance on record, 
took place on the morning of the 1 1th September 
1541. " It had rained incessantly and with great 
violence on the three preceding days, particularly 
on the night of the 10th, when the water descend- 
ed more like the torrent of a cataract than rain ; 
the fury of the wind, the incessant appalling light- 
ning, and dreadful thunder, were indescribable. 
The general terror was increased by irruptions 
from the volcano to such a degree, that in this 
combination of horrors, the inhabitants imagined 
/the final destruction of the world was at hand. 
At 2 o'clock on the morning of the 11th, the vi- 
brations of the earth were so violent, that the peo- 
ple were unable to stand. The shocks were ac- 
companied by a terrible subterraneous noise, 
which spread universal dismay. Shortly after- 



147 

wards an immense torrent of water rushed down 
from the summit of the mountain, forcing away 
with it enormous fragments of rocks and large 
trees, which descending upon the town over- 
whelmed and destroyed almost all the houses, and 
buried a great number of the inhabitants under 
the ruins. When day dawned on the 11th, 
those who had escaped unhurt from the scourge, 
rendered all the assistance in their power to their 
less fortunate neighbours, who were maimed or 
wounded. They collected the bodies of the dead, 
and in the evening buried them. To commemo- 
rate this calamity, a fast was annually held on 
the day for twenty years afterwards. 

On the 23d of December 1586, another very 
violent shock overthrew the old city ; reducing 
the greater part of it to a heap of ruins, and bu- 
rying under them many of the inhabitants. The 
earth shook with such violence that the tops of 
hit^h ridges w^ere torn off, and deep chasms form- 
ed in various parts of the level ground. 

The third commenced on the 18th of February 
1651, about 1 o'clock in the afternoon, when a 
most extraordinary subterranean noise was heard, 
and immediately followed by three violent shocks, 
at short intervals from each other, which threw 
down many buildings, and damaged others. The 
tiles from the roofs of the houses, were dispersed 
in all directions, like light straws by a gust of 

V 



148 

wind. The bells of the churches were rung by 
the vibrations, masses of rock were detached from 
the mountains, wild beasts were so terrified that 
losing their natural instinct, they quitted their 
retreats, and sought shelter from the habitations of 

men. 

A fourth occurred on the night of August 27 th 
1717, when the neighbouring volcano began to 
emit flames, which continued with slight shocks 
of earthquake, until the 28th, when they in- 
creased with great violence. The inhabitants bcr 
came much alarmed, images of saints were car- 
ried in procession, public prayers were put up 
day by day, but they still continued ; at last on 
the night of September 29th, the fate of Guati- 
mala appeared to be decided, and inevitable des- 
truction seemed to be at hand. Great was the 
ruin among the public edifices, many of the 
houses were thrown down, and all that remained 
were dreadfully injured. But the greatest devas- 
tation was seen in the churches. The inhabitants 
fled to the adjacent villages, and did not return 
till the shocks had ceased for some time, when 
they began to rebuild and repair their dwellings. 

After several other shocks at difl'erent times, 
which effected various degrees of injury, such as 
the one of 1751, the one of 1757, called the 
earthquake of St. Francis, and that of 1765, 
which spread devastation over the province of 



149 

Chiquiimila, came the one of 1773, which is thus 
described. " The year 1773 was the most melan- 
choly epoch in the annals of this metropolis ; it 
was then destroyed, and, as the capital, rose no 
more from its ruins In the month of ]\Iay 
some few slight shocks were perceived, and on 
the 1 1th of June a very violent one took place. 
Its duration was considerable, many houses and 
churches were much injured ; during the whole of 
the night the shocks were repeated at short inter- 
vals, and for some days afterwards with less fre- 
quency. About 4 o'clock, in the afternoon of 
July 29th, a tremendous vibration was felt, and 
shortly afterwards began the dreadful convulsion, 
that decided the fate of this unfortunate city. It is 
difficult even for those who were witnesses of this 
dreadful catastrophe, to describe its character 
or the variety of its undulation ; so entirely did 
terror, and the apprehension of immediate anni- 
hilation, absorb all powers of reflection. For 
several days these shocks continued, and some- 
times in such quick succession that many took 
place in the short space of fifteen minutes. On 
the 1 7th of September there was another, which 
threw down most of the buildings that had been 
damaged on the 9th of July; and on the 13th of 
December one still more violent terminated the 
w^ork of destruction." Since then, nothing ap- 
proaching in violence to any of those which have 



J 50 

been described, has been experienced, and the 
new city has hitherto remained uninjured. 

During our stay at Guatimala, one of the most 
powerful which has happened for many years, 
occurred. About one o'clock in the morning we 
were awoke from sleep by a loud rumbling noise 
in the bowels of the earth, not unlike the rattling 
of heavy carriages furiously driven along the 
pavement. This lasted for about three minutes, 
and was succeeded by a violent heaving of the 
ground, causing a sensation somewhat like the 
rolling of a ship at sea. This motion was not 
probably of more than two or three minutes con- 
tinuance, and at its conclusion was followed by a 
shaking similar to that produced by the motion 
of a steam-engine. At the first alarm most of 
the inhabitants sprang from their beds, and the 
more devout commenced recitations to the virgin. 
Candles were lighted and placed before the ima- 
ges of the saints, and sleep was banished from 
most eyes. The whole could not continue more 
than from six to seven minutes, although the 
fears of many led them to suppose it of much 
longer duration. Its effects proved disastrous in 
the southern provinces, from whence it proceed- 
ed, overthrowing or injuring both churches and 
houses in its course ; but with the exception of 
the fall of one building about a mile from the 



151 

city, it did not do any damage in the immediate 
neighbourhood. 

This temperate climate is as salubrious as it is 
agreeable. No epidemic at any period of the 
year, sweeps off its inhabitants ; and with the ex- 
ception of those " common ills which flesh is heir 
to," it is free from every pestilential scourge. 
The few cases of fever which at times make 
their appearance, are brought by individuals 
who have contracted them on the coast. Di- 
arrhoea sometimes attacks Europeans on their 
first arrival, but this seldom acts so powerfully as 
to produce dangerous consequences. It is gene- 
rally attributed to some peculiar properties in the 
water. 

Judging by the physical and moral character 
of the different nations of the world, it would 
seem that variable climates, subject to a fervent 
but ephemeral heat, and succeeded in other 
parts of the year, by a rigorous yet transient 
cold, are best suited to draw forth the energies of 
the mind of man, and to give force and vigour to 
his body. This hypothesis receives additional 
confirmation from the character, not only of the 
aboriginal inhabitants, but also of the descend- 
ants of the European settlers. The unvarying 
equability of temperature enjoyed in this favoured 
land, seems to induce a debility alike injurious 
both to the body and mind. The weakness of 



152 

the Indian population, although certainly exag- 
gerated by Dr. Robertson, is yet considerable, 
and accompanied by a pusillanimity of character 
unusual among savages. The distinguishing cha- 
racteristic of the Creoles, as a whole, may be 
said to be mildness and inertness, while all the 
operations of government are marked by a want 
of energy truly surprising. The females marry 
early, and are old at forty : and the men at tifty- 
five exhibit a degree of bodily and mental weak- 
ness equal to what we expect at seventy in Euro- 
pean countries. 

According to the native historian before allu- 
ded to. the old city must have been subject to 
pestilential distempers. Tlie account he gives of 
one which he says swept away, in three montlis. 
one tenth of the inhabitants, is curious, but so 
vague in its details as to make one almost doubt 
its authenticitv. It happened in the year 1686. 
J He savs: "Some c>i the inhabitants died sud- 
denlv. others expired under the most acute pains 
of the head, heart, and bowels. >o remedy was 
discovered that could check its destructive pro- 
gress. aUhough many of the deceased were opened 
to endeavour by that means to come at the cause 
of the disorder. So great was the number of 
the infected, that there was not a sufficient num- 
ber of priests to administer the rehgious rites — 
The bells were no longer tolled for the dead indi- 



153 

vidually, and the corpses were buried " en masse" 
in a common grave. This disease appears to 
have disappeared independently of human means, 
and the credit of its removal is given to a mira- 
culous interposition of the Virgin. She had 
been publicly solicited to interpose for them du- 
ring three days, and her image during that time 
had been carried in procession. On the last day, 
about two in the afternoon, the face of the sacred 
effigy was discovered to be in a state of profuse 
perspiration for a long time. This prodigy was 
immediately certified by two notaries who were 
present, and from that day the pestilence ceased, 
and the sick recovered. 

The ravages of small-pox have at various 
times spread desolation through the city, and 
though considerably checked by vaccination, it 
still occasionally devastates. This distemper is 
said to have been introduced into Mexico in 1520, 
by a negro slave of Narvaez, one of the conquer- 
ors, when it carried off one half of its inhabit- 
ants, and among others the Sovereign. 

It first appeared in Guatimala in 1733, when 
it swept away in one month 1500 persons. From 
that time until 1780, it does not seem to have 
shown itself; but at this last period it again 
raged with destructive malignity. We are told 
"that the infected might not die without the 
administration of the Sacrament, the viaticum 

20 



154 

was carriedl from all the' parish churches, and 
also from those of the regular religious orders. 
The dead were not permitted to be interred in 
the churches, both on account of numbers, and 
because the decomposition of bodies in a state of 
such virulent contagion, might cause injury to 
survivors : three cemeteries without the city were 
therefore consecrated for their sepulture." Ino- 
culation was now, for the first time, practised in 
Guatimala, with the most complete success ; for 
although so many perished of the contagion, 
scarcely one of those who were inoculated died. 
At various intervals, however, it still made its 
appearance, and vaccination was early intro- 
duced. 

In the year 1815, a pamphlet was published, 
by order of the Spanish government, explaining 
in familiar language, the symptoms of the disease ; 
oiving rules for diet, recommending suitable 
medicines, and strictly forbidding inoculation. 
It appeals very forcibly to the various orders of 
the clergy, urging them in their respective flocks, 
to use every eftbrt for its alleviation, and especial- 
ly to promote, by every means in their power, 
general vaccination. A fine bust of Jenner adorns 
one of the principal fountains, and serves to keep 
in remembrance the valuable discovery of which 
he was the author. Since the revolution, the 
propriety of providing a supply of virgin matter 



155 ■ 

has been brought before Congress, and Hke every 
thing else, been discussed, agreed to, and neglect- 
ed. Before I left Guatimala, I delivered to each 
of their medical men portions of matter, from the 
National Vaccine Institution of England, her- 
metically sealed, and accompanied them with 
exact directions as to the best mode of preserving 
a constant supply ; but such is their ignorance and 
carelessness, that it is highly probable the greater 
part of it will be wasted. 



CHAPTER VII. 

Sii hurbs. Villages, Bee-hives^ Cochineal 

Plantations, Grazinif Farms, Bathins 

Places, — Trip to Antigua, or old Guatimala. 



To the beauty of the environs, and the majes- 
tic character of the neighbouring scenery, rather 
than to any attraction which the city itself pos- 
sesses, must be attributed that pecuhar charm 
which compels the stranger to admire Guatimala, 
and impresses his mind even after leaving it, with 
the recollection of its loveliness and grandeur. 
The suburbs, in every direction, abound with 
pleasing walks, some leading to the hills of Car- 
men and Calvary, where chapels, called hermit- 
ages, are erected; and others, to the difterent 
Indian villages by which the city is surrounded. 
The adjoining country, for two or three leagues, 
affords numerous beautiful rides, and probably a 
greater variety of magnificent scenery may be 
found here, within the circumference of a few 
miles, than in the neighbourhood of any other 
city in either hemisphere. 

One of the most agreeable pedestrian excur- 
sions is to .Tocotonango, a village about a mile 



157 

tiistant. On the outside of the town, a line 
avenue of trees leads into fields nearly isolated 
from the surrounding country, by {stupendous 
barrancas, and surrounded in the distance, by a 
chain of mountains and volcanoes, over the tops 
of which an immense mantle of dark clouds lies 
almost perpetually stretched. On a fine evening, 
these fields are to be seen thickly studded with 
small parties, reclined upon the grass ; some en- 
joying the cool breeze, and others Hstlessly 
gazing upon the majestic prospect. Close by is 
the village, which consists of a few small houses, 
a number of Indian huts, and a square or plaza, 
ornamented by a fine old fountain, which stands 
in the middle. 

Once a year, this spot becomes the busy scene 
of rustic festivity, by the influx of visitants at the 
annual fair, which commences on the 14th of 
August, and lasts fifteen days. The first of these 
is appropriated to the sale of mules and horses, of 
which an immense variety are exhibited. The 
second is the great feast, and devoted to amuse- 
ment. The middle of the plaza is then occupied 
by a multitude of Dulce women, who, squatted on 
the ground, are peeping through their black 
mantillas, and recommending the various pre- 
served fruits and sweetmeats which they have 
for sale ; a few covered stalls, with toys and 
ornaments, are interspersed among the crowd, 



LkS 

and numerous benches ranged around the square, 
are occupied by hundreds of Senoritas, ghttering 
in all the tints of the rainbow, and diii'ering not 
less in the colour of their skin than their vest- 
ments ; gold and spangles are scattered in pro- 
fusion over splendid lace dresses, and plumes of 
feathers bend over features of every order, from 
the thick-lipped and flat-nosed negress to the 
pale and delicate countenance of the Spanish 
belle. Fans, adorned whh gilded hearts and 
darts, are flourished and flirted with a tact that 
would not have disgraced the days of Addison ; 
and all the artillery of Cupid is directed at the 
crowds of spectators who parade on foot, or 
prance by on horseback, in order to exhibit their 
equestrian skill. This diversified scene is, to a 
stranger, both novel and diverting. 

About two leagues to the S. E. the village of 
Pinula formerly attracted attention from its pos- 
sessing a kind of seminary for young girls, who 
were educated free of expense, and maintained 
themselves by the productions of their gardens 
and bee-hives. The building which they inhabit- 
ed appears very similar to a convent, and is now 
in a neglected state. Scarcely any pupils are to 
be found within its walls, and this once famed 
establishment, although sanctioned by royalty, is 
all but extinct. 



159 

The bee-hives used here are so different both 
in shape and construction to ours, that a sHght 
description of them may be interesting. In form 
they are cyHndrical, have about three feet in 
length, and nearly a foot in diameter, and are 
generally made of wood, with circular doors at 
each end, the bee entering at a small opening in 
the middle, which is by its situation generally 
protected from the rain. The one we saw opened 
was merely a log of wood roughly hollowed out, 
with doors at each end. The honey was con- 
tained in small bags about two inches long, of 
which a double row was arranged on each side 
the hive ; the centre contained small cells of 
comb for the young ones. During the clearing 
of the hive, the bees flew around the head of the 
man who was extracting the honey, but did not 
offer any injury. This species of bee either has 
no sting, or else possesses that property in too 
feeble a degree to be dangerous. The honey has 
an agreeable scent, is much softer, and in taste 
not so pleasant as that of the European insect. 

At short distances from the city many of the 
inhabitants have nopaleras or cochineal planta- 
tions, to which they pay considerable attention. 
These consist of a certain quantity of ground, 
carefully fenced in, and planted with parallel 
rows of prickly pear plants, (the Cactus coche- 
nillifer,) or common Indian fig. Directly after 



lOU 

the rains have ceased, the ^insects are sown upon 
tlie phint. Twelve or fourteen of these are col- 
lected tVom the parent with a feather, and enclo- 
sed all togetiier in a small bag of the maize leaf, 
\c\\ open, and pinned with a thorn to the leaf of 
the caotus. Seven or eight oi' these bags are 
placeii on different leaves of the same plant. In 
a short time the insects begin to breed in the 
bags, and the young ones crawl out upon the 
plant. As they grow, they gradually cover them- 
selves with a mantle of white paste, which pro- 
tects them from injury by the weather, and in 
the course of three months, they are ready for 
gathering. This is done by scraping the leaf, 
and alter a sufficient number have been reserved 
for seed, the rest are either placed upon tins in a 
large oven, or thrown into hot water. When 
dried they assume the appearance of small grains, 
and are ready for sale. A second crop is then 
sown, and in three months a second harvest is 
reaped, atier which the seed is preserved by 
covering tlie phmt till the rainy season is passed. 
After four or tive vears the cactus decavs from 



* The coccus, a gienus ol" insects oi' the hcr::}.::~c:.s ordex. Gtficnc 
CAsrxxcta-. — Siuntt, s^jated iu the breast. — .inUnsuT lUifbrm. — ,ibdomin 
bristiT behiud. — iT'iiJirs two, erect in the male, but without poisei-s. Seve- 
ral ol the species when dried, pnxluce a colouriaj matter, but the coccus 
cacti is the best fitted for this purpose. The female of this insect is the 
true codiineal of the shops, which is well known for its great use in dying 
and p&intiug. Drievl. ^xiuadevi, and prepared, the colotir is sold under the 
nsme of carauce. — C'j5^\« Tixhsiicolos'isiti DicH^myt. 



161 

ihe quantity of nourishment drawn from it by the 
insects, and it is then necessary to root them up 
and plant fresh ones. 

The cultivation of this insect was not com- 
menced in Guatimala till the year 1821, and so 
rapid has been its progress that it is estimated 
the harvest of the present year will produce 
90,000 pounds weight. 

The " haciendas de ganados" or grazing farms, 
are generally several leagues distant. Some of 
them are very valuable possessions, having good 
houses connected with the farms, and very nume- 
rous herds, but being generally left to the direc- 
tion of mayor-domos or foremen, they are mostly 
neglected. The land is so good, and the climate 
so favourable, that the care and management, 
which to an English farmer is of the last import- 
ance, can here readily be dispensed with ; and 
nobody in Guatimala thinks of taking more trou- 
ble than is absolutely necessary. 

Some of the wealthy Spaniards were formerly 
in the habit of expending very considerable sums 
of money upon these estates, uniting to the graz- 
ing department, sugar plantations, and of late 
cochineal gardens. One of the most beautiful of 
this description, about a league and a half from 
the city, strikingly exhibits the thoughtless profu- 
sion with which money was wasted upon such 
undertakings. It is situated upon the side of on<^ 

21 



Hi-J 

ot* tJio mountanis, and coininauds a tine prospect 
of tlio plain of (^iiatiniala. the city, the mountains. 
;mcl the ditrerom Indian viUa^es. scattered about 
iliein, torniing a panoramic view from this situa- 
tion remarkably interesting. The house and 
walks are elevated and laid out in the Italian 
style. Three stone terraces rise one above 
another, and a very tine archway adorns the en- 
trance to the outer court. An immense aque- 
duct on the upper terrace supplies several stone 
reservoirs, and atiords a sutlicient quaiuity of 
water, both tor the sugar mill on the second ter- 
race, and for the irrigation of the whole of the 
land. l>elow and all around the buildings, are 
sugtir plantations, orange and lime groves, nopa- 
leras separateii by hedge rows of plantain trees, 
and small Indian huts for the people employed on 
the estate. The works and edifices alone are 
said to have cost the original contriver X'tJO.OlH) 
sterling : but in so careless a manner are these 
things executed, that the aqueduct is led through 
other estates, and is liable at any time to be cut 
ot^* This delightful spot is now in the hands of a 
company of individuals, who leave it to the care 
of an agent, who in his turn conunends it to the 
care of nature. Xeglect appears in every branch, 
half the produce is wasted, and the buildings are 
allowed to fall into decav. 



The village of San Juan de Amatitan, and tin; 
town of Escuintla may bo tf3rmed the fashionable 
bathing places of Guatirnala. The former is 
situated near the lake of the same name, and has 
a fine river flowing near it, the waters of which 
are supposed to be medicinal. The latter which 
is by far the most frequented, although fifteen 
leagues distant, possesses a similar stream in 
which the visiters bathe. This place is infested 
by vermin of every description, the houses are 
wretched and the accommodations miserable; the 
climate is excessively hot, and the town so desti- 
tute of every comfort, that even chairs must be 
brought from Guatimala by the fanciful mortals 
who arrive for the benefit of their health. In the 
months of January and February the old and the 
young, the grave and the gay flock hither to de- 
rive as they imagine now vigour from the profuse 
perspiration they experience, and the bracing in- 
fluence of this wonder-working water. It is amus- 
ing to observe how universally prejudice and 
fashion lead the world in chains ; and one can 
scarcely restrain a smile at the remembrance 
that four months after the return of the good 
citizens of Guatimala, from their beloved Es- 
cuintla, the enlightened fashionables of Grosvenor 
square will be deserting country seats, furnished 
with every luxury, to crowd themselves into dirty 
garrets at the " adorable Brighton." 



164 

The x\ntigiia or old Giiatimala — and the vil- 
jaf^es lying between it and the capital, may with 
propriety be included in this slight sketch of the 
iSiMTounding country : — let us therefore at once set 
out for that city. Leaving Guatimala through 
the southern barrier, we proceed across the plain 
for about three leagues, when we arrive at the 
village of Mixco, situated on the declivity of a 
mountain, which commands a fine view of the 
valley, the mountains enclosing it, the city and its 
suburbs. This village is well populated and has 
a good church, its inhabitants are chiefly potters 
and carriers. 

From hence the ascent is rocky and steep, and 
the road continues rough and irregular till we 
arrive at the village of San Lucas about three 
leagues further. This place is termed by old 
Tomas Gage an English friar, w ho about a cen- 
tury ago published a tour through Mexico and 
Guatimala, the granary of the capital, since it 
was found practicable to keep corn in good con- 
dition here, much longer than in the old city. 
In the present day however, it has no claim to 
this honourable title. The cura of this village 
possesses probably more botanical information 
than any other native of the republic. He has 
taken considerable pains in the cultivation of 
European fruits and vegetables, and had at one 
period near a thousand different plants in his 



165 

garden. When we visited this spot, it was sadly 
overgrown with weeds, and appeared greatly ne- 
glected, which was attributed by the owner to a 
long illness from which he had but just recovered, 
and which had rendered him incapable of superin- 
tending it. We found here strawberries, olives, 
bergamot pears, figs, asparagus, besides a variety 
of plants and flowers he had received from Europe. 
This priest appeared to be a very intelligent man, 
had a tolerable good library, and had evinced 
both his patriotism and liberality in having had 
lessons prepared at his own expense for the es- 
tablishment of a Lancasterian school. 

From hence to the Antigua, a distance of three 
leagues, the road becomes tolerably level, and 
the scenery romantic. The mountains lie on 
each side, covered with verdure, and lined chiefly 
with stunted oaks, while the river which waters 
the old capital, rolls murmuring towards it at 
their feet. The view of the city from a distance, 
is highly pleasing : its situation is beautiful, and 
the plain on which it stands, very fertile. On ap- 
proaching near to it, and entering the streets, the 
traveller is struck with the unique prospect 
which presents itself Convents, churches, pa- 
laces, and pubHc buildings of every description, 
stand before his eyes, all ruined and in great 
measure overgrown with moss : walls, with tre- 
mendous openings, and huge stones, tottering as 



if ready to tall upon the head of the passer-by, 
remain precisely as they did when, lifty years ago, 
the inhabitants tied from their vicinitv, through 
fear of being swallowed up by their ruins. The 
very rubbish in many places, has not been re- 
moved, and such is the superstitious feeling of 
the lower orders, that they object to see any 
portion of the stones appropriated to what they 
deem unhallowed purposes. These buildings are 
many of them in a very superior style of archi- 
tecture, far surpassing similar edifices in the new- 
capital. In the streets near the market-place, 
the houses have been mostly repaired, or rebuilt: 
but in some of the outer ones, bare w alls, cover- 
ed with moss, still meet the eye in every di- 
rection. 

The suburbs constitute one vast garden, filled 
with vegetables, for the supply of both the cities, 
or covered with the nopal for the cultivation of 
the cochineal insect, of which a considerable 
quantity is annually produced. These gardens 
are mostly well directed, and regularly irrigated. 
In the vicinity, are some water-mills, for grind- 
ing flour: but the machinery is wretchedly 
coarse. The number of inhabitants is now esti- 
mated at near 16.000, employed chiefly in 
agriculture, and the streets and plaza are again 
thronged with a noisy multitude, equally forget- 
ful of the fearful past, and careless of the future. 



PART III, 



UlSTOllY OF THE REVOLUTION,— TRADE AND COM- 

3IERCE, SKETCH OF NATURAL HISTORY, &C.— 

ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS. 



CHAPTEPv I. 

State of Guatimala before the Revolution, — 
Causes which jyroduced that event, — Declara- 
tion of Independence, — Junction with Mexico, 
— General Congress, — Publication of the Con- 
stitution, — Struggle between the Aristocracy 
and the People, — War of San Salvador. 

The history of revolutions, in their conse- 
quences the most beneficial to our species, has 
generally been melancholy. The struggles of 
passion and conflicting interests have too often 
disfigured the fair form which liberty assumed at 
the outset; and the bright halo vv^hich true patri- 
otism threw around her head as she emerged 
from obscurity, has speedily been lost amid " sha- 
dows, clouds, and darkness.'' A new generation. 



168 

protitiiig both by the struggles and errors of their 
fathers, have been left to complete the \york. and 
to reap the harvest. But the glory of the enter- 
prise does not rest with them. It belonas to the 
rough and restless spirits, who. wearied bv op- 
pression, lirst rose and shook themselves for the 
conflict : it is the crown of those who first suc- 
ceeded in planting the lever, and overthrowing 
the strong fortresses of tyranny, although them- 
selves perished in the ruins. 

It is interesting to watch the slow and silent 
steps by which men arrive at that height of da- 
ring which induces them to risk every thing for 
freedom : and to observe, as far as possible, the 
first dawnings of that love of liberty, wliich 
"■ growing 'v^^th their growth, and strengthening 
with their strength." becomes the ruling passion, 
till, like the rod of the prophet, it swallows up 
every other. 

The Centro-American character would seem 
of all others, the least susceptible of violent im- 
pressions. 3Iild almost to effeminacy, and inert 
in the extreme. — ^to a superficial eye, it would seem 
the work of ages to awaken them to exertion, or 
even to make their breasts glow with any thins" 
like patriotic ardour. That very much remains 
to be done on this point is undoubted, but consi- 
dering the character of the people, and the limit- 
ed space of time which has elapsed since the 



16i) 

revolution, it should rather excite surprise that 
so much has been accomplished. 

It is difficult to form a correct idea of the state 
of Guatimala as a colony of Spain. From the 
period of the conquest until it declared its inde- 
pendence, the most profound trancpiillity had 
reigned within its borders. The Indian and 
coloured population submitted themselves en- 
tirely to the will of the whites, who were occu- 
pied in amassing fortunes with case and quiet- 
ness. A slavish superstition sealed the eyes and 
bound in chains the very thoughts of all parties, 
and the country peacefully enjoyed the lethargic 
calm which such opiates invariably produce. 

At this period, (including up to the close of 
the last century) the country under the appella- 
tion of the Kingdom of Guatimala, was governed 
by a Captain-General, appointed by the court of 
Spain, and a Royal Audiencia or Prsetorial Court, 
whose jurisdiction extended from 8^ to 17^* north 
latitude, and from 82" to 95*^ west longitude, 
comprising an extent of surface computed at 
26,152 square leagues, with a population of about 
1,200,000 souls, giving about forty-six inhabitants 
to the square league.* The kingdom was again 
subdivided into fifteen provinces ; five situated on 



Humboldt's Political Essay, vol, iv, p, fl2i'. 

22 



170 

the shorei^ of the Atlantic; live on the Pacific; 
and five in the interior. These were governed 

by inferior officers, who repoited to the audiencia. 
Spiritual atiairs were under the direction of the 
archbishop of Guatimala and three suflragans. 
The ecclesiastical division of the country consisted 
of four bishoprics, and comprised two hundred and 
twenty curacies : twenty-three collected curacies 
of regulars ; seven hundred and fifty-nine paro- 
chial churches : and four establishments for the 
conversion of infidels. A military force could 
scarcely be said to have existence : not more 
than fi-om thirty to fifty soldiers being required 
for the internal security of the kingdom. 

Such was the state of things in Guatimala 
when the present century dawned upon its sons, 
a century pregnant vrixh events more important 
perhaps to a succeeding than the present genera- 
lion. About this period the contraband trade with ' 
the Enghsh settlers in the bay of Honduras be- 
gan rapidly to increase, and to assume the shape 
of regular commerce. The young and enterpri- 
sing eagerly entered into a traflic which not only 
produced considerable profit, but as it were opened 
before their eves a new world. Knowledge, and 
a- fresh thirst for it, entered with their merchan- 
dise, and books of various descriptions clandestine- 
Iv found their way into the ver v heart of the isthmus. 



in 

Undeceived in their impression that Spain was 
the first empire of the world, and that the other 
powers of Europe were tributary to her, they be- 
came indignant at the deception, and soon learned 
to despise a power they had hitherto blindly reve- 
renced. 

New opinions like these soon displayed them- 
selves, and although the hand of powder smo- 
thered the flame, it could not extinguish the 
internal fire, which stole along, enlarging its 
boundaries on every side, until it had formed no 
inconsiderable mass of combustible matter, ready 
for ignition. But hitherto there had been little 
ground of complaint. Tyrannical as was the 
colonial system of Spain, its administration was 
generally mild, and at so great a distance from 
the seat of power, the most disagreeable edicts 
were easily evaded. The wealthier families, 
some of whom had purchased patents of nobility, 
assumed the title of noblesse, and by their atten- 
tions and flatteries gained the ear of the Vice- 
roys, through whom they governed in their own 
w^ay, without fear of control. These engrossed 
every office, from the highest to the lowest. 
Nothing w^as too high to escape their grasp, or 
too low to be beneath their notice. About the 
time of the revolution, a list was published of the 
sixty-four offices to which salaries were annexed 



172 

by the court^ of Spain, varying from fifty to six 
thousand dollars, the whole of which amounting 
to near ninety thousand dollars annually, were 
held by individuals forming, by intermarriages, 
one sole family ; of these, nearly all were Ameri- 
cans by birth, but the sons of European Spaniards. 
In every office, brothers succeeded to brothers, 
nephews to uncles, relations to relations. Even 
in the Chamber of Commerce, the same spirit of 
family was all powerful. In the Royal Cedula, 
for its formation in 1793, the thirty-ninth article 
nominates the thirty individuals of whom it is to 
be composed ; and here too the same names only 
are to be found ; so that with the exception of 
this body, who may be termed the aristocracy, 
the Guatimalians saw themselves irrevocably 
shut out from every office, either of honour or 
profit. 

About the years 1803 and 4, commenced that 
/ plague in the public purse of Spain which is still 
raging and threatening destruction to the empire. 
The colonies were resorted to, and a voluntary 
subscription required. On the part of Guati- 
mala, this was supplied most liberally, the 
citizens vying with each other in loyalty towards 
the mother country. Contribution after contri- 
bution was the only recompense the Americans 
received for this act of generosity, and the coun- 



173 , 

try groaning under an unjust and excessive taxa- 
tion, began to feei itself in hands as insatiable as 
the grave, which never says '• it is enough." 
The same zeal which had been exerted to raise 
money, under ev'ery form of impost, was also 
exercised to suppress the progress of literature 
and science, and societies which only a few 
years before had received the royal sanction, 
were ordered to suspend their functions. Such 
flagrant acts of despotism as these, prepared the 
minds of the people for a change, which would 
have taken place sooner had not the indolence 
and apathy of the population opposed a powerful 
obstacle to any attempt of the kind. From the 
beginning of 1812, feverish symptoms had mani- 
fested themselves in some of the provinces, and in 
the year 1815, a slight insurrection took place, in 
Leon; but it was immediately suppressed, and 
the leaders sent to Spain. From the years 1816 
to 1819, a discontented feeling at various times, 
displayed itself, and secret meetings began to be 
held, in order to arrange plans for improving a 
favourable opportunity of declaring Guatimala 
independent of old Spain. 

While these events were taking place in Gua- 
timala, the flame of independence had broke forth 
in more than one quarter of the new world ; and, 
by the year 1821 the fate of Mexico was decided. 
Every post brought intelligence of the proceed- 



174 

inffs of the patriots in New Spain, and the fermen- 
tation which such intelligence naturally produced 
on the minds of the people, became universal. In 
this extremity, arrived Gavino Gainza. appointed 
by the Cortes of Spain, bringing with him the 
news of the recent political changes in the penin- 
sula, and the establishment of the constitution. 

Invitations now poured in from Ciudad Real. 
and other quarters ; the leading families and 
most influential members of the church met to- 
gether : and after various private meetings, in 
which Gainza took a part, they publicly pro- 
claimed the independence on the fifteenth of Sep- 
tember. 1S21. amid the shouts of the populace. 
A proclamation was then issued, and a resolution 
entered into to call a general congress, for the 
first of 3Iarch. 1822 -. in the mean time forming a 
provisional government, of which Gainza should 
be President, consisting of a council composed of 
individuals belonging to the different provinces. 

The proclamation which bore the name of 
Gainza and was addressed to the citizens of Gua- 
timala was to the following effect : — " Other gov- 
ernments speak of plans adopted or provisions 
taken by themselves for the regulation of the 
people they govern; the government ofGuatimala 
speaks to you citizens of those things which your- 
selves have desired, of that which yourselves have 
proclaimed. Since the vear 1810, the two Arae- 



175 

ricas southern and northern, have bestirred them- 
selves, have begun to defend their rights, and 
have commenced the cry of liberty and indepen- 
dence. Guatimala placed in the midst of either, 
was a tranquil spectator of both; her sons heard 
with pleasure the cries, and observed with joy 
the steps of those whom they have always consi- 
dered brethren, and if they did not express with 
the lip the sentiments of their hearts, they were 
nevertheless Americans, loving what she loved, 
and desiring what she panted for. In New Spain 
the cry of Independence resounded and its echoes 
were heard in Guatimala, and desires began to 
burn which can never be extinguished. Still the 
peaceful sons of Guatimala remained tranquil, 
hoping that the convulsions of Mexico would find 
a speedy termination. For months they waited, 
and the energy of their feehngs was continually 
on the increase, until repeated intelligence ren- 
dered it necessary that steps should be taken in 
Guatimala; and communications havinsr been 
made to the provinces, the fifteenth was appointed 
for a general meeting in the palace. On that day 
the archbishop, the deputies appointed by him, 
the captain general, the venerable dean, and 
the ecclesiastical court, the consulado, the col- 
lege of lawyers, the military and civil chiefs, 
the prelates and the public functionaries united. 



176 

The people were not indifferent to a subject 
which was their own. They assembled in front 
of the palace, in the market place and in the 
streets, manifesting the moderation which has 
ever distinguished them. At this meeting some 
without opposing the independence wished to 
wait the final struggle in Mexico, but a low mur- 
mur indicated disapprobation; and when the pre- 
lates and others declared that the voice of Guati- 
mala was one with America, and that it was ne- 
cessary immediately to attend to their wishes, a 
general shout declared the unity of opinion ; but 
when it was added that the formation of the new 
government should be the work of the represen- 
tatives of the people, the loudest acclamations 
unequivocally testified the general joy. Send 
then, citizens, your deputies and representatives 
to the capital, that the will of the provinces may 
be manifested to all the world ; and decree a con- 
stitution which shall elevate you to that felicity, 
which the geographical situation of your soil pro- 
mises. This is the desire of the authorities. 
These are the sentiments of Guatimala. If in 
other countries, and at other times, union is 
strength, in the present it is especially necessary. 
Elect then deputies worthy of the people they 
have to represent. Every thing must be your 
work. Think of the important business you have 



177 

in hand. For my part I swear this day, and 
when the constitution shall be formed will again 
swear to be faithful to America, and to sustain her 
rights," 

This was followed by a second manifesto to the 
provinces, inviting them to elect representatives 
in the proportion of one for every fifteen thousand 
inhabitants, not excluding the coloured population 
from the rights of citizenship ; and assuring them, 
that until this congress should meet, and form 
the basis of a constitution, no change should take 
place in the authorities, — and that it should be a 
fundamental principle to keep the Catholic reli- 
gion unchanged, and to preserve that pious spirit 
for which Guatimala had always been distin- 
guished. To these notices were added, a signifi- 
cation of the intention to coin a medal in celebra- 
tion of the event, and to hold a solemn mass. 
This paper bears the date of the sixteenth, and is 
also signed by Gainza. 

That the congress was called together in good 
faith there is no doubt, notwithstanding that sub- 
sequent events prevented its union. Soon after 
the publication of these proclamations, Iturbide 
ascended the throne of Mexico, and the influence 
which this event had on the early destinies of 
Guatimala are detailed in a third manifesto by 
Gainza, bearing date January 5th 1822. He 
begins by stating that when on the memorable 

23 



178 

fitioontU otiSoptoinbor, tlie capital prcK'laimod its? 
iilorioiis iiuiopeiulenco, the government convoked 
the representatives^ of the peopU> to decide, 
• whether the independence shonld be general 
and ahsohite, and it* so what term ot' government 
should he erected." At that time he says they 
knew not that the hero and liberator of the em- 
pire liad ascended the angnst throne, and there- 
fore could not alhide to union with a government 
whose instaUation might be frustrated by the 
vicissitudes of human events; that at the time of 
the independence, the most delighttiil unity pre- 
vailed, but that since then the seeds of discord 
had been scattered, and provinces which had lirst 
declared themselves one with Guatimala had 
since uniteii themselves to 3Iexico: — that it had 
been the earut>st wish of the temporary junta to 
leave the question of union to be decided by the 
representatives of the people when they should 
meet, but that as three of the provinces, (^.Hondu- 
ras, Costa Uica and Chiapa") had declared them- 
selves for the union, there were no longer elements 
for a distinct and separate government. He then 
urges them to apply themselves to improving the 
condition of the country and to live in peace and 
concord. At^er the publication of this paper 
Gainza retired to 3Ie\ico. where he was taken ill 
;uul soon alter died. 



171) 

Against these proceedings the province of San 
Salvador strongly protested, and immediately 
formed a provisional government of its own. 

This province, the richest in the kingdom, had 
always ranked next in importance to Guatimala, 
and between the two states a feeling of jealousy 
amounting to enmity, had long existed. It had 
been the first to receive liberal ideas, and had 
cherished them with an enthusiasm unknown in 
the other provinces, and now bitterly exclaimed 
against the aristocracy of Guatimala, by whom 
it considered itself betrayed. Arms were imme- 
diately resorted to, and the government of Guati- 
mala fearing an attack, sent troops to suppress 
them. This army attacked San Salvador on the 
third of June, but were instantly repulsed and 
driven back. In this emergency they applied to 
General Filisola, who with a body of Mexican 
troops, was at this time in Ciudad Real. On his 
arrival in Guatimala he was reinforced with the 
troops of the province, and marched for San Sal- 
vador, on the first of October, 1822, at this time 
defended by a considerable army under the com- 
mand of Arce, the present president of the fede- 
ration. Filisola lay before the city four months, 
and on the seventh of February, 1823, took it 
without much bloodshed. But arms cannot sub- 
due opinion. Filisola soon found that the 
junction was so unpopular as to render it impos- 
sible to be maintained. A proclamation bearing 



18U 

his name, appeared on the twenty-ninth of March, 
18*J3, reconvoking the general congress, and on 
the twenty-fourth of June following, this body, 
for the first time assembled, and took the name 
of Constituent Assembly- To this congress each 
of the states sent deputies with the exception of 
Chiapa and Nicaragua. The former remained 
hrm in its adherence to Mexico, and the latter, 
torn to pieces by civil dissensions, was in too dis- 
tracted a state to make the election. These dis- 
turbances were however quelled by the troops 
from San Salvador, and the deputies of Nicaia- 
gua joined tlie congress. One of the first acts of 
the constituent assembly at\er the nomination of 
an executive, was to publish a decree, declaring 
'* these provinces independent of Spain, Mexico, 
and every other power, either of the old or new 
woi-ld.'' This decree is dated July 1. 1823. 

Filisola at this period was appointed Com- 
mandant General of the army and Gefe Politico. 
Soon after this appointment however he returned 
to 3Iexico, and the troops which had accompa- 
nied him from Ciudad Real were withdrawn at 
the same time. The congress, which now found 
itself completely uncontrolled, published on the 
17 til of December, the basis of its future consti- 
tution, and declared Guatimala a Federal Re- 
public, comprising five states, joined together 
under the denomination of the United Provinces 
of Central America, viz. 



181 



I. Guatimala- consisting of 13 Departments — Capital Guatirnala. 



DEPARTMENTS. 


No. of Towns 


DEPAKTMENTR. 


No. of Towns 




and VillagCB. 




;ii)(l ViilageB. 


1. Sacatepequez- 


18 


8. Escuintla, 


12 


2. Chimaltenango, 


11 


9. Chiquiniula, 


8 


3. Solola, 


11 


10. San Agustin, 


8 


4. Totoriicaparn, 


4 


11. Vera Paz, 


5 


5. Gijegijetango, 


8 


12. Salarna, 


7 


6. Qu*^zaiteriango, 


7 


13. Pctcn, 


9 


7. Suchitepequez, 


6 







Comprises 114 Towns and Villages — Population computed at 7OO.fX)0. 



II. Salvador, consisting of 4 nepartmcnts — Capital San Salvador. 



DEPARTMENTS. 


No of Tow.is' DEPARTMENTS. 

and Villagf;«., 


No. ofTowriK 
and Villager. 


1 . San Salvador, 

2. Sonzonate, 


23 3 San Miguel, 
14 4. San Vicente, 


10 

8 



Comprises 5.5 Towns and Villages — Population computed at 3.50,000. 



III. Honduras consisting of 12 Departments-Capital Comayagua. 



DEPARTMENTS 


No. of Towns 
and VillrigCH 


DEPARTMENT8. 


,\'o. of Towns 
and Village*. 


1. Comayagua, 

2. Tegucigalpa, 

3. Choluteca, 

4. Nacaorni, 

5. Cantarranas, 
G. Jutigalpa, 


6 
5 

4 
4 
4 
3 • 


7. Gracias, 

8. Llanos, 

9. Santa Barbara, 

10. Truxillo, 

1 1 . Lloro, 

12. Segovia, 


5 
5 
6 
2 
2 
11 



Comprises bl Towns and Villages — Population computed at 200.000. 



IV. Nicaragua, consisting of 8 Departments — Capital Leon. 



DEPARTMENTS. 


No. of Town j^ 
and VillagOH. 


DEPARTMENTS. 


No. of Towns 
and VjllageK. 


1. Leon, 

2. Granada, 

3. Managua, 

4. Realejo, 


7 

10 

4 

4 


5. Subtiava, 

6. Masaia, 

7. Nicaragua, 

8. Matagalpa, 


5 

12 

G 

5 



Comprises 53 Towns and Villages — Population computed at 200,000. 



1. San Jost\ 


S 


~f 


5?, Cartac^>, 


5 




:^. Vjarrasu 


o 


1 


4. Boruoa, 


2 



V. Costarica, ooiisisting of S Departments — Capital San Jos^-. 

5. Iscau. I 2 

6. Abjuela. 1 

7. Erevlia. 2 

8. Bagases, 3 
Ck>.'«;^/is>?s2l Tifvrtts «Btd fiik^es — P^fraiMtm ann^aieii at 50,000. 

These five states unitedly ooniaiii about *22.(KH) 
square leagues of territory, forming, in shape, a 
triangular polygon; its point lying in the pro- 
vince of Panama, and its base in the line that 
separates it from Xew Spain. They are bounded 
north by the Atlantic, south and south-wesi bv 
the Pacitic, south-east by the province of Vera- 
guas, and west and north-east by Mexico, and 
comprise a population of about a million and a 
hatf. These by their representatives, expressed 
their determination to be governed on the princi- 
ples of federal republicanism, and the basis of 
their constitution is declared to be in accordance 
Nvith those principles. It ordains the legislative 
power to reside, 

I. In a JFederal Cmisrress^ composed of repre- 
sentatives elected by the people : with whom ii 
shall rest to make war and peace, to direct the 
army, the mint, and the general administration of 
the government. 

II. In a Semite, composed of two senators popu- 
larly elected by each state: whose privilege it 



18:^ 

shall be to sanction the acts of the federal con- 
gress; to counsel the executive on important 
cases, to nominate the individuals employed by 
the federation, and to watch over their conduct. 
It declares that the executhe power shall be 
vested 

1. In a Pres^ident popularly chosen, whose 
duty it shall be to enforce the laws, but on all im- 
portant matters, previously to consult the senate : 

2. In a Vice President, and 

3. In a Supreme Court of Justice, which shall 
exercise the highest judicial power. 

It decrees, that the internal affairs of each state 
shall be regulated by itself upon the following 
principles : 

1. By an Assembly of Deputies, popularly 
elected, who shall form the laws, determine the 
expenses of administration, decree duties, and fix 
the military force, with consent of the federal 
congress. 

2. By a Council^ similarly chosen, whose privi- 
lege it shall be to give or withhold sanction to 
the laws, to counsel the executive power, and to 
nominate the individuals holdino^ the hio^her office? 
of the state. 

3. By a Chief w^hose duty it shall be to direct 
the executive, to nominate the gefe pohtico of 
each department, and to dispose of the forces of 
the state. 



184 

4. By a Vice Chief, and 

5. By a Supreme Court of Jndieaiure, who 
shall administer justice according to the laws. 

After these preliminaries the constituent as^iem- 
bly began to form a constitution, and in the mean 
time the differ ent slates were lett to regulate 
their internal concerns. With the state of Gua- 
timala the history of the revolution makes us 
familiar. The intluence of the church and the 
aristocracy always proved pre-eminent : and after 
various struggles with the hberal party, it suc- 
ceeded in establishing an executive considerably 
more moderate than the other states. These 
struggles however delayed the establishment of 
its government : and its constitution, as a state, 
was not decreed until the eleventh of October. 

The province of Salvador, anciently called 
Cnscatlan or the land of riches, was conquered 
by Alvarado, in 1525. and its capital founded in 
1528. This city, which now ranks second in the 
repubhc. contains a population of about 16.000 
inhabitants. It is situated in 13^^ 36 north lati- 
tude, and 89*^ 46 west longitude, eight leagues dis- 
tant from the Pacific, and is surrounded by hills 
and mountains covered ^ithwood. and terminating 
on the north-east in a dormant volcano. Its cli- 
mate although hot is healthy, and its inhabitants 
are distinsuished as ardent lovers of libertv. 



185 

From the 'fii'st hour of the struggle, the preva- 
lence of liberal opinions was evident, and from 
that period to the present it has invariably taken 
the lead. Undivided in sentiment, it decreed its 
constitution on the twelfth of June, 1824. 

Honduras lies east and west, on the shores of 
the Atlantic, and is bounded by the bay of Hon- 
duras on the north, by Nicaragua on the south- 
east and east, by San Salvador on the south, and 
by the department of Chiquimula on the west. 
Its soil is mostly rugged and mountainous, and 
rich in metals. The low lands are humid and 
unhealthy, owing to the almost innumerable 
rivers by which they are watered, and the con- 
stant rains to which the province is subject. It 
is consequently thinly populated. Its capital 
Comayagua is situated on a beautiful plain in 
about 13^ 50' north latitude, and 88^ 46' west 
longitude, and is distant from Guatimala about 
144 leagues. This state decreed its constitution 
on the eleventh of December. 1825. 

Nicaragua is bounded on the north by the pro- 
vince of Honduras : on the east, by the Atlantic : 
on the south, by Costarica and the Pacific 
Ocean : and on the west, by Tegucigalpa, a de- 
pai-tment of Honduras. From west to east, it 
extends eighty-five leagues, and from north to 
south about seventy-five. Its capital, Leon, 
situated in 12^ 20' north latitude, and 86° 16' 

24 



186 

west longitude, four leagues from the Pacific, 
and 183 leagues from Guatimala, was before the 
revolution, one of the most beautiful cities of the 
kingdom. From its local advantages, it promised 
to surpass the capital, and was rapidly advancing 
in prosperity when the flame of civil discord 
which had long been smothered, broke forth with 
unparalleled fury. Half the city soon became a 
heap of ruins, and the respectable mhabitants 
fled in terror fi-om such a scene of devastation. 
Torn in pieces by these dissensions, it did not 
decree its constitution until the 8th of April, 
1826. Ultra liberalism may be said to be the 
political temperament of this province, which 
still continues distracted and unsettled. 

Costarica, which, notwithstanding its name 
is the poorest, and most destitute of all the pro- 
vinces, extends 160 leagues from west to east, 
and about sixty leagues from north to south. Its 
climate is warm, but healthy, and its population 
very widely scattered. Cartago, the ancient* 
capital, is situated in about 9° 10' north latitude, 
and 82'-' 46' west long. 400 leagues east, south- 
east, from Guatimala, thirty leagues fi'om the 
Atlantic, and thirty from the Pacific. It has 
about 8000 inhabitants. This state decreed its 
constitution on the 21st of January, 1825. 

* The seat of goTemment has for tie present been remored to San Jose. 



187 

From the period of the pubhcation of the basis 
on which the new government was to be founded, 
the constituent assembly continued its sittings, 
and on the twenty-second of November, 18*24, 
presented its constitution. This document con- 
sists of two hundred and eleven articles, and 
is divided into sections and chapters. 

Article 1. Declares the people of the Federal 
Republic of Central America sovereign and in- 
dependent. 

Article 11. States the religion of the republic 
to be that of the Catholic Apostolic Roman 
Church, to the exclusion of the public exercise of 
any other. 

Article 12. Declares the repubhc to be a 
sacred asylum for every stranger, and the coun- 
try of all those who wish to reside in its territory. 
Article 13. Pronounces every man free in the 
repubhc, and declares he cannot be a slave who 
takes refuge under the laws, nor he a citizen who 
traffics in slaves. 

Articles 14 to 22. Relate to the rights of citi- 
zenship. 

Articles 23 to 54. Regulate the election of dif- 
ferent officers. 

Articles 55 to 68. Refer to the organization 
of the legislative, and declare the intention to 
build a Federal Capital as soon as circumstances 
will permit. 



188 

Articles 69 to 105. Define the powers of Con- 
gress, and regulate the promulgation of new laws. 

Articles 106 to 151. Relate to the executive, 
and to the responsibility of the different au- 
thorities. 

Articles 152 to 174. Secure individual liberty, 
oblige magistrates to examine accused persons 
within forty-eight hours, and to commit or set 
at liberty within twenty -four hours following. 

Articles 175 to 211. Relate to the powers of 
the different states, and give regulations for the 
formation or admission of new ones. 

About a month after this publication, the con- 
stituent assembly dissolved itself, with the inten- 
tion of re-opening its sessions in the following 
February. At this period it again met and 
united with the senate and other constitutional 
bodies. The two candidates for the presidency 
were Arce and Jose del Valle. The popular elec- 
tions had terminated with a small majority for 
Yalle ; but on various pretexts which were at the 
time subjects of considerable controversy, the Con- 
gress decided that the majority was not absolute. 
In this case the constitution leaves the decision 
to that body, and it decided in favour of the former, 
who although a native of San Salvador, was 
esteemed less democratic than the latter. Jose 
del Valle and his friends protested against the 
decision, but were unable to get it reversed. 



189 

Del Valle himself is a man of considerable learn- 
ing, (probably the only man meriting that title in 
the republic ;) but unacquainted with the world, 
and destitute of that nerve which in the situation 
he aspired to is almost indispensable. Having 
studied books more than men, he is apt to be mis- 
led by dazzling theories, and having seen little of 
other countries, is ever disposed to overrate the 
importance of his own. But whatever be his de- 
ficiencies, nothing can palliate injustice. 

During the sittings of this year, the discussions 
of Congress assumed a tone so moderate and 
liberal, as to reflect the highest honor upon its 
members. Plans the most beneficial to the re- 
public were proposed and carried, and if they 
have hitherto proved abortive, it should be attri- 
buted rather to the influence of melancholy and 
uncontrollable events, than to any want of zeal in 
their projectors. If the republic has derived lit- 
tle practical benefit from their discussion, they 
have at least served the purpose of manifesting 
their good intentions. 

The third session commenced on the first of 
March 1826, and from this period may be dated 
the commencement of that unhappy struggle, 
which has paralyzed the energies of the nation, — 
rendered the constitution a dead letter, — forced 
backward the march of civilization, — and su- 
perseded civil government by martial law. 



11)0 

The restless and intriguing spirit of the aris- 
tocracy and the church, soon obtained an undue 
influence in the councils of the Federation ; and 
unable to brook the more liberal spirit of the 
state authorities and the Congress, they soon 
brought matters to an open rupture. The depu- 
ties from San Salvador withdrew, the Congress 
broke up, and war commenced between the Fede- 
ration and the state of Guatimala. The struggle 
did not last long; the latter was obliged to yield, 
and Barrundia the chief of the state was arrested 
by the President. Flores the vice chief imme- 
diately assumed the executive power, but was 
soon obliged to remove the state authorities to 
San Martin, a neighbouring town. His power 
was not of long duration. At Quezaltenango, 
where he had laid a contribution on the church, 
he fell a victim to the fury of a superstitious 
mob, which, instigated by those who ought to be 
the promoters of peace, pursued him into the 
church whither he had fled for refuge ; and, al- 
though the officiating priest held before him the 
sacrament of the Lord's supper, and appeared 
anxious to protect him. he was dragged from the 
pulpit in which he had concealed himself, and li- 
terally torn to pieces before the altar, the popu- 
lace running through the streets and crying, 
'' Long live Guatimala." " Death to the Congress." 



191 

After these events the reins of government 
were assumed hy the aristocracy. Aycinena was 
installed chief of the state, on the first of March 
1827, and the liberal party in the state of Guati- 
mala were subdued. 

It is only from the date of the period immedi- 
ately preceding this act of violence, that we are 
able to form any correct idea of the resources of 
the Federation ; since subsequent events have 
rendered later accounts impracticable. From 
the budget of the minister laid before the legisla- 
tive assembly for the year 1825, we extract the 
following calculation of probable receipts and 
expenditure. 

1825 DOLLARS, BOLLAKS. 

Salaries of Officers, &;c. 54,950 Customs Sz Maritime Duties, 200,000 
Judicial Expenses, "' ' ' " 

Finance List, 
War & Marine, 



14,450 


Produce of Gunpowder, 


^ I 8,000 


113,684 


federal Monopoly, 


469,524 


Produce of Tobacco, a federal 




Monopoly. 






State of Guatimala, 


75,265 




do. Salvador, 


31,467 




do. Leon, 


77,127 




do. Comayagua, 


£7,643 




do. Costarica, 


1,858 




Defi(;iency, 


181,248 



1652,608 1652,603 

This deficiency was proposed to be met by con- 
tributions on each state, in the following propor- 
tions, 

Guatimala, 51,092 6^ Nicaragua, 32,143 4.^ 

Salvador, 67,336 1 Costarica 9,261 4| 

Honduras, 21,413 7J 

A statement so vague as this, the assem- 
bly very properly refused to sanction, and re- 



quired a more particular, and exact account of 
all the different branches of administration, in- 
cluding, 

1. The state of the public resources during the 
two first years of the independence, and the means 
taken to improve them. 

2. The probable expenses of the year entering. 

3. An exact statement of the funds applied by 
llie constituent assembly to the expenses of the 
federal government. 

4. Means proposed lor improving the resources 
of the federation, by a better system of collecting 
the present taxes, and creating new sources of 
revenue ; and, 

5. On the establishment of public credit, by a 
foreign loan. 

A report, in some measure meeting the wishes 
of the assembly, was accordingly presented in th(^ 
month of March 1826. From it we learn, that 
among the earliest acts of the constituent assem- 
bly, was an order for the governments of the dif- 
ferent states to separate the funds which belonged 
to the local administrations, from those of the 
nation; to appoint a common treasury, and to 
demand exact accounts of the distribution of 
monies from the independence to that period. 
The commissioners, however, reported that this 
information could not be obtained, nor was it 



I! Hi 

|)ossibJ(3 tosjiy vvlial jiriiouiil oCinonoy im^lil Imvo 
boon roccuvcMl hy (lio slates. TIki i\Avri\{ oov<>ni- 
inont tbon^foro, anxious io fiillil iis <bi(i<!s, osl.ib- 
lishod custom fiousos in (bo (bHijnjut noils, ami 
appoiulod oMioors U> vv.r.v.iw. (bo roiils o\' l\u^ 
Jiadoii. 'V\io. ««,(»voirn(5n(, lamonis i(s iii:ibib(.y U> 
iriool (Ih; jiisl, olairiis ofin.iny <'io<b(<)rs, ;jri<l s(,a(,ow 
its dosilo to roirn^dy tboso <;vils Jis spoodily as jkih- 
HJblc. Tbo low Kta(<; ol' tbo rmaru-os is |niric,i|);r||y 
attribiitod (o tbo i\uimi\iy oj' f:»oo(lH ol.i,iMl(»s(inol_y 
a,(hnitto<l, owinjr to tlio carolosHnoss or corruption 
<>rtb(; porsouK dcistinod to prcwcvrit il. In <>rno:i an<l 
Tnixrllo, tbo <-,ivil force is stalxMl to l>o abojiotlior 
un(Mpj;il to tbo prot(!otioii oi' ronnui^rco ; and on 
tin; batdis, ;iiid :»( (In, mondis ol" tbo riv<irM <.'ba- 
melccon, IJIbia an<l Loancis, wln<b ^bsonibo^iuo 
tlionisolvos botwoon tboso two \Ai\rAH, mmty (:uni- 
lios W(i aro told find support by tliis illicit trailic^ 
iV) roniody in sonio d(ijn.roo tbis growing ovil tlni 
report roconniKinds tbo removal of tb(5 port of 
V/al»al to l]\ iro(iioi„, wbicb point it is tbougbt, 
woidd not only bo rnon; ranvru'wAii. Cor tbo tnins- 
portation olgoo<ls to^Mj.ilan, but woidd consider- 
ably inipod<! tb(; proo(H;(bngs oltlio snnigglors. 

To U(;;iioxo, (.\)ncbjigua, Ac^ajutla and J.a 
hilxirtad, on tbo soutb, and San Juan on tli(5 nortb, 
roc<!iv<;rs of cuslorns aro naid (o ba.v(^ boon up- 
pointod, but at tbat (irno tbo govornniont had not 

•if* 



194 

been able to find suitable individuals willing to 
fulfil the duties. 

In the beginning of 1825, a part of the loan 
contracted in London was received, which was 
applied under the direction of the legislature. 
When this was expended, it became necessary 
to meet the current expenses with the only re- 
sources upon which they could regularly cal- 
culate, viz. the customs and the tobaccos. But 
these could not all be collected ; Honduras, Ni- 
caragua and San Salvador, having neglected to 
give in any accounts whatever although repeat- 
edly required to do so, in consequence of which 
we are told the public funds still remain in a state 
of considerable embarrassment. The minister 
then adds, that the regulations of the assembly, 
for uniting the ofiices and diminishing the number 
of the employed, had not been carried into eft'ect, 
owing to circumstances beyond the control of the 
government. 

With regard to the calculated expenses of the 
coming year, we are informed that considerable 
anxiety has been felt to economise to the utmost, 
— that a repubhc is the cheapest form of govern- 
ment, and that the salaries of the public officers 
are lower in proportion, than in any other nation. 
The calculated expense is then stated to be as 
follows. 



il>5 



Dollars 

President of the Republic 9,000 \ 

Vice President f5,000 

Secretary of State 4,746 

Salaries and expenses of ) 

ministers in foreign \ 125,950 
countries ) 

Assist, to Sec, of State 

Salaries of Magistrates 

Expenses connected with 
collecting of duties 

Do. of Post-office 

Do. connected with the 
sowing of Tobacco 

Do. with the manufac- 
ture of Gunpowder 

Salaries of two Ministers 
of Finance 

Do. Treasurer 

Do. Receivers of duties ) 
in the ports ) 

Pensions of individuals J 
employed under the > 
Spanish government ] 

Charitable Pensions 

Hospitals 

Expenses connected with 1 
the Commandants and { 
Treasurers of the dif- i 
ferent Ports ) 

Secretary of Federal Cong. 3,150 

Secretary of the Senate 3,250 

Judges 7,500>' 

For the establishment and mainte- 
nance of the army and navy ac- 
cording to the plans of the Le- 
gislative Assembly 



145,146 



450 
14,000 

12,600' 

8,738 

115,950 

17,300 

10,660 

5,460 

17,600 

17,000 

2,800 
10,500 

. 25,000 



Supposed produce 
of duties, if col- 
lected on an im- 
proved plan 

Do. tobacco & gun- 
powder the two 
fedrl. monopolies 

Loan 

Balance to be divi- 
ded as a contin- 
gent among the 
different states 



Dollars, 
i 300,000 

( 315,000 
75,000 

(690,791 



-257,508: 



966,137 



$1,380,791 



$1,380,791 



The report then refers to the national debt, 
which with interest, is stated to amount to two 
milUons and a half of dollars; a sum chiefly bor- 
rowed by the captains-general of the court of 
Spain, in order to pay the contributions imposed 
by the mother country, and principally owing to 
different religious houses. 

This statement, meagre and unsatisfactory as 
it is, merits attention as being the only attempt of 



the kind over mado. It \Yas as a matter ot'oourso. 
reeeivod by the assonibly, laid on the table, and 
speedily t'orootten. Siuee then things have moved 
on anudst the most inextrieable eontiision: eaeh in- 
dividual eonneeted with the liovernment seenrins 
to himself whatever may eome within his grasp. 
The loeal revenue of the ditVerent states arises 
tVom the proeeeds oC the nhuirnhi. a tax imposed 
on provisions, and on the transmission of ootxls. 
from one state to another; from the sums paid 
by the keepers of spirit-sliops tor their lieense to 
sell chichu and ^/^'7//7-<//<7i A. varying aeeording to 
the eonsumption of the house, from ten to one 
hundred dollars monthly: and tVoni tho produce 
of stamps. The rtx*eipts of the state of Guati- 
mala from these sources averages about J^tHXX) 
luonthly. and the united duties of the other states 
will probably amount to an equal sum — makiuir 
the moiuhly revenue of the tive states about 
twelve thousand dollars. 

l>ui 10 return to politieal atiairs. The calm 
wliieh sueeeeded atior the aeeessiou of the aris- 
toeraey to power, was not of long continuance. 
Old jealousies were revived between the capital 
and San Salvador, and a dissatistied teeling be- 
gan to manifest itself through all the republic. 
The supplies for the support of the federation 
were either irregularly sent or omitted altoge- 
ther : aiul Guatimala. tindinn herself burdened 



li)7 

with the cxpcmscs of two governments, began io 
desire tfu; formation of a central one, upon the 
ground that tFie rei)uhhc did not possess sufficient 
elements for federalism, it being impracticable to 
lind men for th(3 requisite offices, or money for the 
necessary expenditure. Under the pretext that 
the old congress could not reunite, an extraordi- 
nary one was convened by the president on the 
tenth of October, 1826. This illegal act, joined 
to the supposed intention of changing the form of 
government, was the signal for revolt. Insurrec- 
tions broke out in Honduras, Nicaragua, and 
San Salvador. The former was soon suppressed, 
and the forces of Nicaragua were rendered 
harmless by internal commotions, but San Salva- 
dor assumed an attitude at once threatening and 
dangerous to the capital. It denounced Guati- 
mala as inimical to the constitution, and imme- 
diately marched a considerable army to the walls 
of the city. Nothing could exceed the terror of 
the inhabitants of Guatimala, when on the even- 
ning of the sixteenth of March, 1827, this army, 
threatening destruction, appeared within the 
outer gates. Every means that fear or supersti- 
tion could suggest was resorted to in order to ex- 
cite the feelings of the populace. All the inha- 
bitants were ordered to take arms, and the friars, 
bringing out the images of the saints, headed 
troops of women, who with drawn knives, vowed 



tloiii nut ion on ail. who slioiild attempt to over- 
thri>u tlioir roliiiion. Tho excitation of the mo- 
ment proved sutruient, (ho San Salvadorians 
>vere deteatoih and retired in eontiision. 

From liiat period to the end ot* the year, the 
war continued with various success, — many bat- 
tWs were touiiht : but with so UttU^ spirit and 
under such wretched direction, that no important, 
resuhs tollowed. A niilitary spirit couUl not be 
intustni into the peopU\ and the troops composed 
ot* recruits t'orced into the service, deserted their 
colours the tirst tavouraldc opportunity. Battles 
were pompously announced in the gazettes, in 
which two were killed, and three horses wound- 
ed : and a loui: bulletin ot' the taking of St. Ana, 
(^which had previously been evacuated by the 
enemv."^ announced the capture of three horses, 
and one sabre ! 

ruder such circiunstances the contest assumed 
rather the appearance of a childish quarrel, than 
the siruiiiile ot' opposing states. But although 
the war thus languished, its etVecls were perhaps 
more disastrous than would have tollowed a more 
protuse etVusion of huuu\n hUHxl Commerce 
was altogether suspended, and agriculture ne- 
iiUxned: while contrU)uiion atter contribution 
draimxl the city, and ruined the inhabitants. The 
state of the public tinauces was at this lime as 
wretchtHi as can be ima2fiue<l. Atter the ditferent 



1911 

iuiposts iiad hcjcii (jxliaustod, and the niaintcriarico 
of the army still became necessary, forced loans 
were resorted to, and merchants in the space of 
twelve months, w(irc in this way taxed to the 
amount of 5 and GOOO dollars each. Nor was 
the money thus collected wisely expended. Com- 
missions in the army speedily became a traffic 
in families connected with the government, and 
troops thus officered, presented an appearance 
not unlike Hogarth's celebrated picture of the 
march to Finchley. 

Some few European oflicers mingled in these 
disputes, and took arms on either side, hut disas- 
ters seemed always to attend their proceedings. 
Joseph Pierson a Creole of the West Indies, first 
engaged with the federal government as colonel 
of Infantry, hut having expressed disgust at their 
proceedings he excited suspicion, upon which he 
deserted to the opposing party of the state. 
While commanding these troops he was defeated, 
and fled to Mexico. A decree of outlawry was 
issued against him, and when a few months after 
he passed the frontiers in order to join the Salva- 
dorians, he was taken prisoner and brought to 
Guatimala, where he was instantly shot by order 
of the chief of the State. He walked to the 
place of execution with the greatest firmness, 
and giving the word of command to fire, died 



200 

like a soldier. His talents and character render- 
ed him worthy of a better fate. 

A similar lot awaited a Colonel Gordon, (said to 
be a natural son of the notorious Lord George 
Gordon,) who also was taken prisoner, under cir- 
cumstances somewhat the same. The exertions 
of the British Consul, with much difficulty how- 
ever, obtained for him liberty to quit the country. 

A Colonel Raoul who had served under Napo- 
leon, was about the same time admitted as a co- 
lonel of artillery in the service of the federa- 
tion, but owing to a personal pique with the Pre- 
sident, was soon after arrested on charge of diso- 
bedience to orders, and sent to the pestiferous 
castle of Omoa, from whence he was afterwards 
transported to Salvador. He happened to arrive 
at the moment when Salvador had declared open 
war against Guatimala, and was immediately in- 
vested with command. Being however soon dis- 
gusted with the service, he left the army, threw 
himself on the mercy of the federal government, 
and was permitted to retire to a cochineal plan- 
tation he possessed in the neighbourhood of Gua- 
timala. 

About the latter end of the year 1827, Colonel 
Perks, who had served many years under Napo- 
leon, arrived in Guatimala, and soon after was 
appointed commander of the federal forces, while 



201 

the direction of the troops of San Salvador, was 
about the same time confided to a Colonel Merino, 
who had been actively engaged in the wars of 
Colombia, and who, with some other officers had 
recently arrived from the republic of ChiH. 
Under cheir superintendence the contest was re- 
newed with fresh vigour, and after a desperate at- 
tack, the town of St. Ana was retaken by the 
Salvadorian army, with the loss of from 2 to 300 
killed on each side. The town was partially 
sacked, and many atrocities as might be expected 
were committed, by troops under so little subordi- 
nation. 

Such has been, and such continues to be the 
fate of the United Provinces. Every day the ani- 
mosity of the contending parties increases, and 
the prospect becomes more and more gloomy for 
every true patriot. 

Nor are foreigners exempt from molestation. 
The resident Enghsh merchants have been taxed 
to a most enormous extent, in order to meet the 
expenses; and in some instances, contributions 
equal in amount to £(500 sterlincr have been ex- 
torted in a few months. Equally regardless of 
personal rights the government has issued a de- 
cree commanding every stranger to take arms, 
under penalty of death. 

To add to this desperate state of affairs, discord 
reigns within the city. The President and the 



•JOV> 

Chief of tlio State, imitually jealous of authority, 
thwart each other's plans, and privately under- 
mine each other's reputation. Arce is a man 
whose conduct it is difficult to understand. He 
early distinguished himself by a revolutionary 
spirit, and many years before the independence 
took place, was engaged in secret societies for 
effecting that object. Probably he owes his ele- 
vation more to his being so well known as an 
enemy of Spain than to any other circumstance. 
His talents are by no means brilliant, and he is 
very deficient in habits of business. In several 
instances, he has displayed considerable personal 
courage ; but has no knowledge whatever of mili- 
tary affairs. By his enemies, he is considered 
weak and unstable, and his conduct in several in- 
stances gives a colouring to the supposition. His 
arrest of Barrundia exhibited him in the charac- 
ter of a tyrant, while it proved that at that period 
at least he was led by the church and aristocrati- 
cal party. Subsequent events have ranked him 
on the more liberal side, although in public both 
parties still profess to act together Avith cordiality 
against San Salvador, the common enemy. 

The chief of the state, Mariano Aycinena, is 
the mere tool of the church, his talents are tar be- 
low mediocrity, and his public conduct has only 
proved his incapacity for office. 



203 

In addition to the causes which have been 
already enumerated, the misfortunes of Guati- 
mala may be attributed to the wretched mate- 
rials which the country furnishes for arepubhcan 
form of government, to the consequent absence of 
a good system of finance and prompt administra- 
tion of justice, and especially to the want of one 
master-mind, able to control by its own superiority 
the narrow souls by which it would be surround- 
ed. Talent and intellect in Guatimala never 
seem to rise above a certain level. Dull medio- 
crity reigns undisturbed, and executes all its de- 
crees in fear and uncertainty. 

With such a combination of evils it is difficult 
to foresee what may be the result. Viewed only 
in its prominent features, it strikingly exhibits 
the unyielding perseverance with which old prin- 
ciples are upheld, and the determined opposition 
which the spirit of the age exercises against the 
antiquated spirit of darkness, and so far it will 
probably end well for the interests of the human 
race. But if a more minute examination be 
made into the private motives and interests which 
are secretly forwarding, under the name of liber- 
ty and liberal principles, the prophetic eye sees 
but too clearly the tremendous ordeal through 
which this unhappy country seems destined yet 
to pass ; views in temporary quiet, only the seeds 
of new revolutions, and anticipates scenes of 



'204. 

horror and of bloodshed at whicli humanity turns 
pale. Bright and fair was the rising of the sun of 
liberty when he dawned for the first time over 
the shores of this part of the new world. But the 
sky has become cloudy and disturbed, while it is 
yet early in the day: a presage it is to be feared, 
of that night of darkness and of tempest which 
now rapidly approaches. 



By letters received from Guatimala bearins 
date April 1828, we learn that Colonel Perks has 
been compelled to give up the command of the 
army in consequence of the refusal of his inferior 
officers to obey orders : — that the president justly 
incensed at this act of flagrant contempt for au- 
thority, has resigned his office ; — that the aristo- 
cratical party virtually holding both the president 
and Colonel Perks as prisoners, have declared 
their determination to fight no more for the fede- 
ration, but for the interests of the state of Guati- 
timala, — and that the war still continues with no 
immediate prospect of termination. 

To speculate on future changes would be idle. 
What star is destined to arise above the dark 
horizon none can tell. Should the Salvadorians 
prevail, an ultra liberal government will be estab- 
hshed, and the old Spaniards, and the leading aris- 
tocratical families, with a great portion of the clergy 



205 

both regular and secular will be expatriated. 
Should the Guatirnalian party, on the other hand 
succeed, they will probably establish a central 
republic, of which Mariano Aycinena will be pre- 
sident, and the pope prime patron. Both of these 
designs may however be frustrated by the inter- 
ference of Mexico or Colombia, in which case 
Guatimala and Honduras will probably adhere to 
the former, and Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa- 
rica fall into the hands of the latter. 



CHAPTER II. 

EarJi,' Coiiimeree, — dLuiufacfures, — Harvest of 
Indfoo, — CochhieaJ. — Tobacco. — Suo-nr. — 
Balsams, — Cotton,— Coffee, — Hides, — Pro- 
dttctlons of the different states, — Mines, — 
Corpus. — Tabanco. — Imports and E.vports, 
— Ports of the north, — Roads, — Hirer Poli- 
chic. — Ports of the South Sea. — Independen- 
cia. — I/npediments to commercial prosperitij. 

The total absence of all tables connected with 
commercial statistics, renders it exceedingly diffi- 
cult to furnish any regular history of the trade 
and commerce of Guatimala. From a memorial 
presented in July 18*23, to the consulado by their 
secretary, we learn that the principal source of 
it^early prosperity was the cultivation of cocoa, 
which was produced in considerable quantities. 
and of the very tirst quality. The province of 
Nicaragua is said to have supplied exclusively 
San Salvador and Comayagua, while the more 
easterly parts of the southern coast, covered with 
plantations over ISO leagues of territory, after 
supplying the neighbouring provinces, and the 



207 

kingdoms of Peru and Mexico, furnished consi- 
derable exportations to Europe by way of Vera 
Cruz. 

In the course of years however, partly owing 
to the difficulties and expense of land carriage, 
and partly to the excessive duties imposed by the 
Spanish government, the cultivation of cocoa was 
encouraged in Tabasco, Caracas and Guayaquil, 
places far more convenient for exportation. In 
addition to this, the repeated incursions of the 
buccaneers who about the beginning of the seven- 
teenth century devastated the shores of America, 
not unfrequently destroying the plantations, and 
massacring the inhabitants, obliged the proprie- 
tors, unprovided with any means of defence, to 
abandon their possessions, and fly from the coast. 
These circumstances operated so powerfully, that 
by the end of the last century, the cultivation of 
cocoa had been neglected to such a degree, that 
these provinces did not produce a sufficient quan- 
tity for home consumption, but were forced to 
buy of their rivals. 

A somewhat similar fate has befallen the plan- 
tations in which sugar was formerly cultivated, 
to a very considerable extent. The mills in which 
it was prepared now in a great measure exist no 
longer ; and New Spain and Peru, where it was 
chiefly consumed, gold and silver being imported 
in exchange, have found other markets. 



208 

As these two branches of commerce decayed, 
the attention of the oovernment was turned to the 
cultivation of indigo, which continues at the pre- 
sent day to be tiie chief article of exportation. 

From the time of the conquest, the Indians 
were more or less employed in manutactures. 
and as the kinodom soon found itself verv irregu- 
larly supplied by Spain, and at the same time 
shut out from communication with the other 
nations of Europe, every encouragement was of 
course given to this branch of native industry. 

The articles thus manufactured were strong 
and by no means des:picable. but could only be 
procured at prices enormously high, while so 
great at times was the scarcity, that when a quan- 
tity of goods arrived from the peninsula, the 
stores and shops were literally besieged with pur- 
chasers, and the government in some instances 
were obliged to use precautions to avoid tumult. 

Such a state of things naturally invited a con- 
traband trade, and the proximity of the English 
settlers in Belize, afforded a convenient opportu- 
nity for obtaining goods at reasonable rates. 
Once commenced, all the efforts of government 
were unable to repress its progress: it rapidly as- 
sumed the shape ot'a regular trade, and was car- 
ried on systematically, chietly by the way of the 
river Leanes. Still the manufactures of the 
countrv found a market, and so late as the vear 



209 

1790, the productions in cotton and wool of the 
capital, Antij^ua and Quezaltenango amounted to 
a million of dollars annually. As the contraband 
trade however increased, these gradually declined, 
and since the trade with Belize has been thrown 
open, they may fairly be considered as annihi- 
lated. 

To the encouragement and progress of home 
manufactures, the memorial above alluded to, 
appears to attach an undue importance : it says, 
" Every country has some one principal branch 
of industry, on which the greater part of the 
rest are dependent. Among us it is very visible, 
that the link of our prosperity has been in former 
ages, our manufactures of cotton, which occupy 
a prominent place in our internal riches, because 
the material is the product of our own land, and 
capable of considerable augmentation, — because 
it occupied so many hands in preparing the 
thread and picking the cotton, and because it 
was capable of extension all over the kingdom. 
The great mass of the people were clothed in 
our own cotton cloths, and the produce of the 
labour was scattered among all classes of the 
state, thus assisting in the maintenance of the 
other parts of *the community, and giving vigour 
to the whole. Tlie branch of preparing the 
thread alone, employed almost all our Indian 
women and children, the use of the wheel being 

27 



'2\0 

altogether unknown ; these now live in idleness^ 
and owing to their indolence, misery, and want of 
education, know no other employment, nor can 
find any other mode of acquiring mone}'/" 

It would be easy to prove the fallacy of such 
arguments as these, were this the place to dis- 
cuss the great question of free trade, but it is not 
necessary ; the memorial itself proves that there 
are plenty of other branches in which they might 
be more advantageously occupied. After reca- 
pitulating a great number of valuable gums, 
resins, and medicinal herbs, it tells us^ all these 
live and die upon the soil that produces them, 
because there is no one willing to employ him- 
self in collecting them and conveying them to 
the neighbouring towns, where their value is 
known, and where a good price would be given 
for them. With the exception of a few towns in 
which commerce maintains and encourages po- 
pulation, the sun shines only on extensive shores, 
arid plains, delicious valleys, and mountains, al- 
ways green and verdant, which in succession 
produce freely an almost infinite number of na- 
ture's treasures. 

With these facts constantly before their eyes, 
the merchants of Guatimala persist in their opi- 
nion, that foreign commerce has ruhied Central 
America. The memorial breathing these senti- 
ments, was read and approved by the chamber of 



commerce, and the doctrines it contains may be 
said to be held universally, without distinction of 
party. But however firmly they may cling to 
these opinions, the declaration of them is now 
useless. The country is deluged with British 
manufactures, other nations arc joining in the 
traffic, and whatever may be the will or wishes 
of prejudiced men, no power on earth can now 
prevent their entrance, or revert back to the 
wretched policy of former years. The question 
now should rather be, how agriculture can be 
best promoted, and the cheap conveyance of pro- 
duce to the coast be most readily facilitated. 

The most important production of the repub- 
lic in the present day is indigo. Its superior 
quality is acknowledged in Europe, and indeed 
by its means alone, is the very existence of Gua- 
timala generally known. From official papers 
of the government it appears, that the average 
quantity produced, from the years 1791 to 1800, 
was 875,256 pounds, each year, and from 1809 
to 1818, only 459,407 pounds annually — a la- 
mentable decrease in an article so highly valued, 
and of such material importance to the country. 
The precise cause of this rapid decrease it is not 
easy to state, but probably it may be in part attri- 
buted to the commencement of a revolutionary 
spirit. 



-:]'* 



The tbllowing table shows the annual produce 
for 20 years. 



Years. 


Pounds. 


Years. 


Pounds. 


1791 


1,015.200 


1809 


732.570 


1792 


1,139,250 


1810 


740,820 


1793 


1,,149,800 


1811 


536,475 


1794 


789,950 


1812 


450,425 


1795 


852,100 


1813 


257,300 


1796 


865,100 


1814 


422,507 


1797 


763,425 


1815 


412,781 


1798 


749,775 


1816 


376,800 


1799 


625,612 


1817 


332,200 


1800 


802,350 


1818 


332,200 


Pounds, 


i 8,752,562 


Pounds, 


4,594,078 



This statement was officially furnished by the 
members of the present administration, and by 
them its correctness is vouched. Later averages 
were asked, in order to judge whether the revolu- 
tion had in any way affected the harvests, the an- 
swer received was " In the present day there are 
not data, to enable us to state the exact number of 
pounds of indigo, which may have been annually 
collected from the year 1818 to the present time, 
— since the disorganization of the states, and the 
great facility afforded for sending it out of the 
country by ports, where there are not custom 
houses absolutely impede it ; but it may be con- 
sidered as certain, that the two last years have 
produced as much or more, than the highest 
average quantity; although none has been ob- 
tained from the state of Leon. 



'213 

Ot' the other productions of the country no bet- 
ter accounts can be had. The cultivation of Cochi- 
neal^ which was unknown till the year 1821, has 
been progressively on the increase. The official 
papers of government, calculate the annual har- 
vest at from 9u to 105 thousand pounds weight, 
but this undoubtedly is somewhat overrated ; the 
harvest of 1824 is estimated by well informed in- 
dividuals, at 70,000 pounds, that of 1825, at 
65,000 pounds, and that of 1826, at near 90,000 
pounds. 

Tobacco is a government monopoly, and con- 
sequently the weight produced must be known 
with tolerable correctness; leaving out of the 
calculation the immense quantities which are 
sown clandestinely. To such an extent is this 
carried on, that not one half of the consumers 
buy of the government, contraband being al- 
ways to be met with, without the least difficulty. 
Official papers merely inform us, that from the 
province of San Salvador, there have been years 
when only 3000 bales, or 30,000 pounds have been 
received, while in other years 6 and 7000 bales, 
or 70,000 pounds have been collected ; that 
Honduras produces from 8 to 10,000 bales, or 80 
to 100,000 pounds, and that a new factory has 
just been planted in Gualan, which it is hoped 
will prove very advantageous on account of the 
facility for exportation. 



Tobacco is bought froiu the grower by the na- 
tion, at one real per pound, and on its account is 
re-sold for interior consaniption, at six reals, and 
for exportation at two reals, dehvered at the ports. 

The following table shows the produce of 
sales, the expenses incurred, and the clear profit 
to the nation for five vears. 



Years. 


Produce of Sales. 


Expenses. 


Clear Profit. 


1815 
1816 
1817 
1818 
1S19 


341.742 01 
570.776 21 
510.079 21 
503,677 31 
794.041 2 J 


163,012 3 
256.743 41 
289,891 11 
309,586 01 
306,635 41 


378,729 51 
314,032 6" 
220.188 1 
194,091 3 
487,405 61 


Amount. 


2,920,316 31 


1.323,868 5 


1,594,447 5f 


Averasre 
Amount. 


584,063 


265, 173 


318,889 41 



Sugar is produced chiefly about Sonzonate 
and St. Ana. The sauie papers tell us. " that 
there have been years when more than three or 
four thousand quintals, cr tliree or four hundred 
thousand pounds, have been exported by the port 
of the South Sea : but in others, nothing." 

All along the western coast, from the bay 
of Jiquilisco to the port of Acajutla. are to be 
found almost every species of the Balsam Tree, 
so that the coast takes its name from the quan- 
tities which grow on its borders. As much can 
be collected as is wished, but this branch of 
trade is now sreatlv nesrlected. 



215 

In the papers before referred to, the article of 
cotton is thus noticed ; '' The cotlon of Usula- 
tan, and the rest of the provinces of San Salvador, 
is superior in quality, and was formerly collected 
in considerable quantities, supplying sufficient for 
at least half the consumption of all the old ma- 
nufactories of the kingdom, beside exporting some 
to the provinces of Mexico; but in the present 
day, scarcely any is produced, owing to the quan- 
tities of manufactured cottons which have been 
introduced from foreign countries. It might have 
been shipped in considerable quantities by the 
Pacific ; but unfortunately these ports have been 
ruined, by the introduction of goods by the north." 

Here again the same ignorance disjjdays itself, 
in official statements. If it be true that the cot- 
ton is of so superior a quality why is it not still 
cultivated and exported, since at least three times 
the number of vessels requisite for its conveyance 
still come to the ports of the Pacific, notwith- 
standing their supposed ruin, owing to the intro- 
duction of goods by the north. The memorial 
before quoted, which it should be borne in mind 
was sanctioned and approved by the Chamber of 
Commerce, speaking of the ports of the north, 
says : " In the present day, with the exception of 
Omoa, these ports may be said to be abandoned." 
The fact is, that the cotton of Usulatan, although 
of good quality, has some pccuHaritv about the 



216 

seeds, which makes it impossible to extract the 
fibre by the usual machinery ; but if this difficulty 
cannot be obviated, a better species might be 
sown. 

Coffee is very little cultivated. What is now 
collected, is chiefly for the consumption of the few 
strangers who reside in Guatimala, as the natives 
of the country scarcely ever use it. Some few 
Jiides are exported by the north ; but the chief 
population is so distant from the ports as to ren- 
der any considerable trade in them impossible. 

In the year 1825 a commission was appointed 
to inquire into the state of commerce five years 
previous, and five years subsequent to the revolu- 
tion. Th§ commissioners' report is in these 
terms : " We have no positive data upon which 
we can state exactly the condition of our com- 
merce during either of these periods, owing to 
the confused state of every branch of the admi- 
nistration; but from observation, and the opi- 
nions of intelligent men, we have the honour to 
report, that the five years previous to the revolu- 
tion were the most miserable we have known, 
and that from the independence to the present 
period, our commerce may be considered to have 
doubled. It is well known, that previous to the 
revolution, our mercantile transactions were con- 
fined to the peninsula, or we ought rather to say, 
to Cadiz. It is equally well known, that in ex- 



217 

change for goods received from thence, they would 
only take our indigo in return, this production 
being equivalent to all the goods we received. 
The harvest sometimes reached 1,200,000 pounds, 
but during the five years previous to the revo- 
lution it did not exceed 600,000 pounds, which 
at the low price of eight rials per pound, only 
amounted to 600,000 dollars, so that a milHon of 
dollars was the greatest sum our indigo ever pro- 
duced in Cadiz. For this we received in return, 
goods to the same value, which was the utmost 
amount of business transacted in the kingdom of 
Guatimala ; for although it be true, that we car- 
ried on some trade in the markets of Havanna 
and of Peru, yet these were in articles that cost 
little, and do not materially vary the general 
statement. 

From the time that we pronounced ourselves 
independent, and the light of liberty shone upon 
our nation, as our ports were opened to all the 
world, our resources began to unfold themselves ; 
agriculture received a new impulse, and commerce 
was greatly advanced. Since then the harvest of 
indigo, according to the calculation of intelligent 
merchants, has doubled, that of cochineal has 
improved in an equal degree, and the prices of 
each have risen in nearly the same proportion. An 
equal increase has taken place in the amount of 
goods introduced for internal consumption, so 

28 



218 

that, if before the revolution our imports and 
exports united, did not exceed two milhons of 
dollars, they may now be fairly considered to 
have advanced to four millions." After recapi- 
tulating the other productions of the country, 
the commissioners express their conviction, that 
the commerce of the country will go forward, 
increasing in the same ratio, and urge the imme- 
diate cultivation of the various fruits with which 
the country abounds. The internal commerce 
they calculate at about a million of dollars. 

This report must however be considered as far 
too flattering. That for some years previous to 
the revolution the commerce of the country was 
retrograding, is evident from the fact, that on the 
24th of April, 1819, a decree was published in 
the Havanna, which after stating the falling con- ' 
dition of the kingdom of Guatimala, and the 
importance of supporting that valuable posses- 
sion, and fomenting its agriculture, ordains, that 
the indigo and other fruits and productions of 
these provinces, shall enter the ports of the Ha- 
vanna free of all duties, and in their re-exporta- 
tion enjoy the same privilege. That the culti- 
vation of indigo received a considerable impulse 
from the causes stated, is equally true, — but 
owing to the disturbed state of the country, the 
harvests have not exceeded hitherto in any con- 
siderable degree, those of former years. That 



219 

the quantity of goods imported has considerably 
increased is certain, but the overplus has been 
paid in coin ; besides which, the markets are at 
the present day loaded with British manufac- 
tures. So long as civil war rages in those parts 
of the country where indigo is almost universally 
cultivated, the produce must be rather on the 
decrease than otherwise. 

A sketch of the principal employment of the 
inhabitants of each state will show the slight de- 
gree of encouragement given to agriculture in 
the different provinces. 

The inhabitants of the state of Guatimala, are 
employed — 1st. As carriers, for which they serve 
all the other states, in their importations and ex- 
portations. 2d. In the production of cochineal, 
a little indigo, about 500 cargoes of cocoa, and 
some flour. 3d. In the manufacture of some 
coarse woollens, of which it is calculated a quan- 
tity equal in value to 200,000 dollars is furnish- 
ed to the other states. Those of San Salvador 
are almost entirely employed in the cultivation of 
indigo, cotton, and sugar. Those of Honduras, 
in the rearing of about 40,000 head of cattle in- 
troduced annually into San Salvador and Guati- 
mala, and in the cultivation of tobacco. Those of 
Nicaragua, in the growth of cocoa, and the breed- 
ing of cattle. While those of Costa Rica, scarce- 
ly raise more of any article than is requisite for 



T20 

the internal consumption of the province, witli 
the exception of some mahogany and cedar, which 
is shipped for Peru. The manufactures of pane- 
las, and the growth of maize, as common to all 
the states, need not be noticed. 

A very useful table, formed in 1818, on the cul- 
tivation of cocoa in the province of Suchitepequez, 
exhibits clearly the proportion the Indians em- 
ployed in agriculture, bear to the white and 
coloured population, and the way in which the 
lands are divided. From it an idea may be 
formed of the other districts. The province of 
Suchitepequez consists of sixteen villages, con- 
taining 503 Indian cultivators of cocoa, and 
115 white and coloured, employed in the same 
manner; the former possess 9408 euerdas of 
land, the latter 26,7G9: the Indians own 241,613 
old trees, and 3.875 new ones : the whites and 
ladinos 540,808 old trees, and 322,51*2 new ones; 
the latter having besides 142.940 plants in seed. 
The trees of the Indians amount to 245.488, and 
those of the whites and ladinos to 863,320. The 
total number of trees in the province being 
1,108.808. In the whole of the province, the In- 
dians are, 12.190. and the Spaniards and ladinos, 
3,374. 

From hence we learn that the Indian popula- 
tion in proportion to the white and coloured, is 



T2t 

as four to one, and the Indian cultivators of cocoa 
to the latter similarly employed is as five to one. 
While the proportion of land possessed by the 
whites and ladinos, is three times as groat as 
that in the possession of Indians, and the num- 
ber of trees owned by the former, is four times as 
great as those possessed by the latter. The civi- 
lization of the Indians, the division of the land 
into small lots, and their participation in equal 
rights and privileges, is evidently one of the 
steps most required for the prosperity of the 
country. 

Up to the year 1800, Q,uezaltenango in the 
state of Guatimala, had thirty small manufactures 
of linen, cotton, serges and coarse cloths, which 
unitedly employed about "200 hands, but these 
have rapidly disappeared, and very few now re- 
main. The annual fair held at this place, was 
till within the last few years considerable. The 
average sales were estimated at about 18,000 
bushels of wheat, — 14,000 dollars worth of cocoa, 
—50,000 dollars worth of panelas,— 12,000 of 
sugar,— 30,000 of woollen cloths and 5000 of 
cottons. This fair is now very inconsirlerable. 

In the environs of St. Ana, are some iron found- 
ries, which up to the year 1800 produced annu- 
ally 1500 quintals, or 150,000 pounds; at the pre- 
sent day they do not furnish more than a third of 
that weight. 



323 

The mamitacture of gunpowder, saltpetre and 
playing cards, are government monopolies, the 
quantity does not exceed what is required for in- 
ternal consumption. Coarse hats, shoes and sad- 
dlery, are manufactured in considerable quanti- 
ties. Fancy articles are finished very neatly, and 
mats, baskets and other curiosities are cleverly 
executed by the Indians. 

Almost every kind of artificer may probably 
be met with, but they are generally very idle and 
more than ordinarily troublesome, in the execu- 
tion of what they undertake. Juarros tells us that 
the manufacturers of fine earthenware, can com- 
pete in their productions with the porcelain of 
Germany ; nothing however has yet been pro- 
duced in Guatimala better than a very coarse tea 
cup, and earthenware and porcelain of every kind 
is still imported from Europe. 

The only remaining source of national wealth 
to be noticed is the mines. Humboldt in his 
table of the respective produce of the mines of 
America, has written against those of Guatimala, 
" nothing," as Spain never derived from them 
any benefit. Since the revolution the most exagge- 
rated statements have been sent forth respecting 
the mineral wealth of Guatimala, and several of 
the mines are now in the hands of companies who 
are attempting to work them. 



^23 

In the district of Tegucigalpa in the state of 
Honduras, are to be found thirteen mines, among 
which that of Corpus has hitherto been the most 
celebrated ; it is said to have produced at one time 
gold in such abundance, as to excite suspicions of 
the reality of the metal, and a treasury was ap- 
pointed upon the spot to receive the king's fifths, 
but after this appointment the golden dream 
vanished, and no more was heard of this immense 
source of wealth. The appointment is merely 
said to have proved unsuccessful. The neigh- 
bourhood of OUincho is also famous for the quan- 
tity of fine gold, which is said to have been col- 
lected in the sands of the river Guyape in its 
course through this valley. In Costa Rica mines 
are to be met with in abundance, but of what 
quality they may be, it is impossible to say. No 
kind of record seems to have been kept of their 
true state, or of what they have at any time pro- 
duced. 

In order to form some conception on the sub- 
ject, a statement was asked from the master of 
the mint, showing the number of marks of gold 
and silver coined for filteen years previous, and fif- 
teen years subsequent to 1810, with any informa- 
tion he was able to afford, on the productions of 
the mines. The following is an exact copy of the 
document. " Statement manifesting the number 
of marks of Gold and Silver, coined in thirty 



224 



years — the fifteen first anterior to the year 1810, 
and the other fifteen posterior, showing the com- 
parative increase, during the latter epoch. 



FIRST FIFTEEN YEARS. 



Years. 


Marks of Gold, 


Marks of Silver. 


Value. 


1796-7 




45,775 2 1 


389,089 6 


98-9 


134 2 4 


35,037 3 6 


316,084 4 


1800-1 


149 2 3 3 


39,879 7 2 


359,284 5 


2-3 


. 


16318 4 7 


130,208 lA 


4-5 


_ 


36,218 6 3 


307,869 6 


6-7 


. 


29,888 2 


254,048 If 


8-9 


- 


32,727 6 7 


278.186 6i 


10 


- 


18,714 1 6 


159,070 6 J 


Total, 


283 4 7 3 


253,560 1 2 


2,193,832 5 



LAST FIFTEEN YEARS. 



Years. 


Marks of Gold. 


Marks of Silver. 


Value. 


1811-12 




30,050 3 1 


255,427 2 


13-14 


118 2 


50,672 3 5 


446,?97 6| 


15-16 




76,488 2 4 


650,153 5 


17-18 


261 3 4 


77,979 6 7 


698. 382 5^ 


19-20 




67,408 1 6 


572,969 7 


o i_oo 




62,323 2 2 


529,747 7 


23-24 


672 5 


41,103 3 


440,781 2J, 


25 


473 1 3 


17,855 3 1 


216,122 U 


Total, 


1524 7 4 


423,8{5l 2 


38,10,382 51 



Marks, 
1241 



Increase during the last fifteen years. 

ocbavos. lomines. 
4 5 



Marks, oz. 
170,320 70 



g 1,6 16,550 1 
Average annual increas*; g 107,770 

This statement solely refers, to the quantity of 
gold and silver, coined in this house during the 
thirty years named, and it must not he deduced 



225 



i'lom hence that this is all our mines have produc- 
ed since a great quantity of these metals have been 
employed in vs^orksof ornament, and a still great- 
er quantity exported, particularly since the year 
1821. It is positively known, that the greater 
part of the merchants of the state of Honduras, 
and of other parts, have exported to foreign 
countries great quantities of gold and silver 
bullion, so that according to the calculation of 
intelligent persons, scarcely a tenth part of the 
metals obtained within the last six years, will have 
passed through the mint. On this account it is 
impossible to state exactly the effective produce 
of each year, and much less the amount exported 
to Europe, because the greater part has been ef- 
fected clandestinely. In all the territory of this 
republic there are mines in abundance, but parti- 
cularly in the state of Honduras, where the 
greater number are to be found, and where na- 
ture presents the greatest mineral wealth. In 
numbers 111, and 112, of the periodical called 
the Indicador, there is the following communica- 
tion. 

"'The mine called Tabanco in the state of 
Salvador, had been abandoned by its owners, 
who despaired of making it profitable on account 
of the great difficulty they found in removing 
the water, in spite of the activity with which 

29 



\y 



they laboured to accomplish it. We are now 
assured that it has begun to yield, the water 
having been removed by a steam-engine ; so that 
now not only will they gain from the mine all 
the advantages it may offer, but others will reap 
advantage from the experiment, and this branch 
of riches will again be opened for our country. 
— Without enumerating more than the above 
mines and those of Guayarillas, Tuzcaran, Ma- 
cuelizo. La Baca, El Cuyal, and Merendon, 
there will be found sufficient to fill the country 
with treasures, if they are worked with care by 
a sufficient number of labourers, directed by sci- 
entific persons; and so great is the quantity of 
gold and silver they contain, that they may be 
said to be inexhaustible.' 

" These observations far from being exaggera- 
ted, rather appear to me below the truth, since 
they do not speak of many other mines, celebra- 
ted for their richness, such as that of Corpus, 
which is at this time clearing of water by a 
steam-engine, under the direction of Mr. Moyle ; 
that of Cedros, St^- Lucia, St^- Barbara, San 
Antonio, Las Animas, the Malacate, and the 
Encuentros : neither does it mention near 2000 
metallic veins, of which the government of the 
state of Honduras was informed in the years 
1825 and 1826 ; nor does it say any thing of the 
great riches of the hills of Aguacate, near Car- 



227 - 

tago, from whence since the year 1822, when it 
was discovered, have been received 1200 marks 
of gold ; estimating that twice as much more has 
been exported to foreign countries. Mr. Gourmez 
a mining engineer, who has visited most of the 
mines of Honduras, assures me, that it is easier 
to find mines than men to work them, so that fa- 
cilitating the means of clearing them, and find- 
ing labourers, there is reason to believe, that 
within a short time, our mineral productions 
may rival those of the republics of Mexico and 
Peru." 

This document is signed by the blaster of 
the Mint. 

A more useless or deceptions appendix it was 
scarcely possible to have added ; for although it 
be true, that a considerable portion of metal has 
been employed in works of ornament, and a still 
greater quantity clandestinely exported, it should 
be remembered, that very considerable importa- 
tions have been made from Mexico, Peru, and 
Chile, and that a great proportion of the specie 
which is clandestinely sent out of the country, i& 
not in bars but in current coin. 

To quote from an old newspaper an erroneous 
statement, and to assert that two steam-engines 
are at work when it is well known that as yet 
only one of them has been put up, is unworthy of 
any person ofiicially employed ; while the story of 



.'2000 metallic veins having been discovered in 
1825 and 1826, there can be no doubt is grossly 
exagoerated. Yet there is no better mode of ob- 
taining information, and under present circum- 
stances to expect any thing approaching to satis-- 
factory or correct statements, is quite out of the 
question. 

The mine of Corpus has been for about two 
years jmder the direction of an English compa- 
ny, and a considerable number of Cornish miners, 
under the superintendence of 3Ir. Moyle, an able 
mining engineer, have proceeded to it. The dis- 
asters and difficulties they have experienced, are 
of the same character as those suffered by others 
engaged in similar undertakings. The greater 
number of the men on their arrival at the coast, 
fell into habits of drunkenness, and several of 
them died: while others were obliged to be left 
sick in the capital. Those who proceeded for- 
ward, immediately commenced the clearing out 
of the water, and the last accounts received were, 
that the mine appeared very rich, and the pros- 
pect flattering, but that hitherto no metal had 
been extracted. Provisions were very scarce, 
and of the worst quality, while the surrounding 
country w^as in a distracted state, owing to civil 
tumults. 

Results rather more favourable have however, 
been experienced at the mine of Tabanco. under 



229 . 

the direction of Dr. Rhy, and Mr. Bennett of 
Belize. A sketch of the mine and surrounding 
country has appeared in the Honduras Gazette, 
from which we learn, that the mine is situated 
in a very romantic part of the province of San 
Salvador, fourteen leagues from San Miguel, and 
that it is surrounded by a chain of high hills, 
over which a good carriage road, eighteen feet 
wide, has been cut in a zigzag direction, by the 
proprietors of the mines, for the purpose of con- 
veying the large pieces of a steam-engine, which 
w^ere too heavy to be conveyed in the usual way 
on mules, from La Seba (a small port on the Pa- 
cific) to the mine. A considerable space is said 
to be levelled near the mouth, on which is erect- 
ed an engine-house, blacksmiths' forge, carpen- 
ters' shop, and a long range of buildings for the 
accommodation of the workmen. The engine 
was at that time at work, and is described as a 
good one, of six horse power, acting so forcibly, 
that, although the water in the shaft occupied a 
space of twelve feet by eight or nine, it cleared 
at the average of thirteen inches within the hour. 
The mine is said to have been wrought to a very 
considerable perpendicular depth, independent of 
numerous branches, or levels, as they are termed; 
all of which must be full of water, so that much 
time must necessarily be occupied before it is 
completely drained. The country about Tabanco 



:>3u 

is described as mountainous, the air pure, and the 
cHniate healthy ; the soil is, however, very poor, 
and unproductive. The principal articles produ- 
ced, are, sugar-cane, maize, and indigo ; the lat- 
ter, very inferior, and the two former, though good 
in their kind, in quantities quite inadequate to the 
consumption* 

A third mine, situated in Costa-Rica, is said, 
also, to be in the hands of the English, but no 
particulars respecting the owners, or account of 
the progress they have made, has yet reached the 
capital. The expense attendant on the working of 
mines in Guatimala, must, necessarily be immense, 
while the profits, at the best, are probably very 
doubtful. Calculations, much too sanguine, have 
hitherto been made, on the advantages that would 
accrue from the introduction of English machine- 
ry, since, in forming them, the local situation has 
been too frequently left out of the question. The 
fixing of steam engines, in countries where every 
thing has to be transported many hundreds of 
miles, on mules, over high and rugged mountains, 
and in parts where fuel is often scarce, is no easy 
task, and, even if accomplished, the advantages of 
it must be very problematical. 

In all probability, we shall find, within a very 
few years, the mines again worked by the natives, 
although under the direction of foreigners, since 
the risk and expense attendant on bringing out 



231 

Englishmen, is far too great to allow of its con- 
tinuance. In this case, the old plans must pro- 
bably be once more resorted to, since the preju- 
dices of the natives will oppose an insuperable 
obstacle to the introduction of new ones. Yet 
still the difficulties of the undertaking will be 
considerable, and if, with the many advantages 
the Spaniards possessed, as despots of the soil, 
they could gain but little, our superior energy 
and skill is not sufficient to produce results so 
brilliant as have been supposed. 

The Europeans of Guatimala, steadily assert 
that the Indians were not forced to work in the 
mines contrary to their inclination ; but a few 
lines which we find in Juarros, who is at least an 
unexceptionable witness on this point, proves the 
contrary to be the fact. He says in alluding to 
the Alcalde- May or ^ who was appointed for the 
purpose of superintending the working of the 
mines, and receiving the king's fifths : " This offi- 
cer was invested with plenary jurisdiction both in 
civil and criminal matters, within the boundaries 
of the mines, and had the power of compelling a 
fourth part of the Indians, within a circuit of 
twelve leagues, to work in them." 

With privileges such as these, it is truly surpri- 
sing, that the Spaniards, while extracting wealth 
from Mexico and Peru, should have failed to en- 
rich themselves from mines so flatteringly descri- 



bed. Probably the result of the present Enghsh 
speculations will solve the enigma, and prove, 
that the present scarcity of population, the 
wretched state of the roads, and other local dis- 
advantages, increase the expenses too materially 
to allow of any considerable profit. 

That the amount of the precious metals in cir- 
culation in the country, is considerably less than 
it was twenty years ago, there can be no doubt. 
The scarcity of produce suitable for exportation, 
and the duties imposed upon indigo, by the go- 
vernment, tend to encourage the exportation of 
specie, and considerable quantities both of coin 
and plate, are constantly shipped for Belize and 
Europe. 

The amount of foreign goods annually import- 
ed into Guatimala may be calculated at two 
millions of dollars, while the quantity of produce 
exported does not amount to two-thirds of that 
sum; the overplus being probably paid in coin. 
Humboldt estimates the annual amount of goods 
introduced into Guatimala, before the revolution, 
at this sum, (without including the contraband 
trade, which at that time was considerable,) but 
this was certainly not the case. 

From a table published in 1796, it appears, 
that from the years 1790, to 1794, inclusive, only 
nineteen vessels arrived from the peninsula, bring- 
ing with them goods of difterent kinds, to the 



233 

amount of about five millions of dollars, and re- 
ceiving in exchange 4,702,800 lbs. of indigo ; 729 
arrobas of zarza; 1015 jars of balsam, and 
1 92,059 dollars ; the whole being equal in value 
to 4,942,131 dollars, and averaging only 988,426 
dollars annually. 

The present importations are made almost en- 
tirely by the ports of Omoa and Yzabal. The 
former about 15« 23' N. lat. and 88^ 56' W. long. 
100 leagues from Guatimala, is the principal 
depot for goods from the Havana and the Penin- 
sula, with which some trade is still carried on,- 
and the latter for British merchandize from Belize. 
A few French vessels, and three or four from the 
United States, have recently arrived at Omoa; 
and, as the Dutch have appointed a Consul in 
Truxillo, and a Consul-General in Guatimala, it 
is to be presumed, that they will soon become 
competitors. 

From Omoa, goods are forwarded by the river 
Motagua to Gualan, and, from thence, to the 
capital, by mules, while all the goods arriving at 
Yzabal, are transported across the mountain of 
Mico to Gualan ; from whence they proceed by 
the same route. In each case, from six to nine 
months is consumed, before any quantity of packa- 
ges can arrive. To the scarcity of mules, and want 
of energy on the part of the muleteers, the delay 
must be attributed, as, with immediate forwarding, 

30 



234 

they might reach the capital in a month or six 
weeks. The indigo for exportation is principally 
conveyed on mules from the province of San Sal- 
vador to the capital, and from thence to the north- 
ern coast by the same means, and equal, if not 
greater risks and delays are incurred. The ports 
of the South Sea, now receive only a few 
vessels from the neighbouring republics, and 
little traffic of importance is carried on in them. 

Such is the deplorable state of the agriculture 
and commerce of Guatimala. It remains to be 
considered, what means are most likely to pro- 
mote the one, and improve the other. The scar- 
city of population, the habits of the people, and 
the facilities that exist for gaining a subsistence 
without labour, are obstacles which time only can 
remove. Considerable emigrations from Europe, 
seem indispensable to the prosperity of the coun- 
try, but neither the government or the people are 
yet liberal enough to offer any temptation to 
strangers, to settle upon their soil. Other and 
perhaps more permanent impediments will be 
found in the inland situation of the capital, in the 
expense and difficulty attendant on land carriage, 
and in the deserted state of all the ports. 

The memorial of the Consulado, thus laments 
facts which can no longer be concealed ; it says, 
" the commerce of the ports of Realejo, and Aca- 
jutla is now reduced to two or three small ships 



235 

each year from Peru and New Spain. The port of 
Omoa is alone sufficient for the trade with the 
Peninsula, reduced to very few vessels ; indeed 
all these ports with the exception of Omoa, may 
be said to be abandoned. Between them and the 
capital lie immense tracts of country, without re- 
gular roads, and totally unprotected, and the risk 
of forwarding produce to them for exportation is 
considerable. Nor is it lessened when they ar- 
rive. Without suitable stores, or warehouses, 
goods must remain four or perhaps six months, 
waiting some vessel to transport them ; while the 
villages on the coast unhealthy and pestiferous, 
owing to the quantity of trees, which have been 
permitted for years to multiply unmolested 
around them, are inhabited only by the lowest 
order of mariners, and totally undefended. In 
these situations the country round does not 
furnish even the common necessaries of life." 

" Were the rich and fruitful lands, which lie 
from Comayagua to Truxillo, from the Llanos. 
Gualan, and Coban, to Omoa and the Golfo 
Dulce, and those which stretch along the exten- 
sive coast of the South Sea, filled with an indus- 
trious population, willing to cultivate the various 
fruits which are the natural productions of this 
favoured spot, blessed as it is with every variety of 
climate and of soil, there is not perhaps a coun- 
try in the world, which would be more prosperous. 



or which contains within itself in a sjreaier de- 
gree, the elements of wealth. 
" Whetherthe transportation of the Caribs. now 
useless in Truxillo. to the shores of the Dulce, 
and the banks of the Motagua, or whether the di- 
vision of the land near the coast into small lots, 
and ceded to Indians on condition of cultivating a 
certain portion with the fruit of the country, be 
desirable, is for others to determine. That the 
establishment of small settlements on the north- 
ern coast, as well as on the southern, and the cul- 
tivation of cocoa, which from its superior quality 
might again be transported both to 3Iexico and 
Peru, as well as to Europe, would be beueticial, 
is however certain." 

Such are the published opinions of the Consu- 
lado as a body, u}^K)n the deplorable catalogue of 
evils which afflict their country. That the ex- 
tension of agriculture in Guatimala. is identitied 
with the habilitatiouof the ports, and the popula- 
tion of its coasts, no reasonable doubt can be en- 
tertained: since from its present locality, the ex- 
penses of transportation, alone forbid competition 
with other countries. This inconvenience might 
however in some degree be lessened by changing 
the route which goods now take, in order to leave 
or arrive at the capital. 

Up to the year 1796 the importations trom the 
Peninsula were made by the Gulf, and forward- 



237 

cd trom Yzabal to Guatimala by mules ; but about 
this period a company was formed for opening the 
navigation of the river Motagua, from Gualan to 
Omoa, and proposals were issued containing ta- 
bles, which exhibited the difference in freight. 
The company however from some cause or other, 
failed in accomplishing its object, and with the ex- 
ception of a few private individuals, the road by 
Yzabal was invariably frequented. In September 
1815, a royal order was issued for the navigation 
of this river, which appears to have had the de- 
sired effect. A few individuals united together, 
and aided by a loan of 5000 dollars from the 
Consulado, provided suitable vessels and esta- 
blished a regular communication. Since then it 
has been the regular channel for all exports, and 
for a great portion of the imports, aUhough eight 
days on an averagiB is consumed in the descent, 
and from fifteen to twenty-four in the ascent. 

To no other cause but an unwillingness to 
change old roads, can be attributed the neglect of 
the river Polichic, which seems to offer for the 
northern coast, a far more convenient and easier 
passage, than the Motagua and Gualan.* By 

* Omoa to Gualan by the Motagua, 15 to 20 days. 

Leagues. Leagues. 
Gualan to San Pablo 6 Guastatoya to Omoyta, 9 

San Pablo to Zanapa, 4 Omoyta to San Jos6, 7 

Zacapa to Chimalapa, 10 San Jose to Guatimala, "7 

. Chimalapa to Guastatoya, 9 



238 

a royal order of the 30th of March 1795, the Con- 
sulado was directed to encourage the navigation 
of this river, but for some unknown reason no 
steps were taken for that purpose. The total 
absence of an enterprising spirit, has prevented 
private individuals from following at their own 
risk this route with goods, so that with a few soli- 
tary exceptions, it remains unfrequented. 

This river rises in the mountain of Xucanab, 
and in its way to the Amatique Gulf is joined by 
the Cahabon, from whence it becomes navigable 
for launches, or as they are called by the natives 
pit-pans ; and flat canoes can ascend much higher 
than this junction. Juarros says that in former 
times, the merchandise imported from Spain 
to Guatimala, and the returning exports were 
conveyed by this river ; and even so lately as 
1793 the organ sent from Europe, for the 
church of San Domingo was transported by 
this route to the capital. From Guatimala to 
Panchisqui the place of embarkation, is a journey 
of about six days, consisting of 50 leagues ; the 
road is more level than the one to Gualan, cooler 
during the hot months, and if it were frequented, 
would soon be more convenient, both with regard 
to provisions and lodgings. From Panchisqui to 
the mouth of the river, which is close to the Port 
of Yzabal, is a navigation of not more than twen- 
ty-four hours in the descent, or four days in the 



239 

ascent. From this point to Omoa, it is easy 
to arrive in two or three days if the weather be 
favorable,— -but during three or four months in 
the year, a more considerable delay must be 
calculated upon.* At all events a saving of four 
or five days would be insured, — but this is not 
sufficient to tempt private individuals to leave 
the accustomed route, unless they could be cer- 
tain that launches and mules would be ready on 
their arrival. Were active steps taken to pre- 
pare these requisites, there can be little doubt 
but that it would again be frequented, and a 
considerable advantage accrue to the capital. 

On the Pacific the only ports frequented, are 
Conchagua situated a few leagues from San 
Salvador, which possesses one of the finest 
harbours in the world ; and Acajutla an open bay 
without shelter, five leagues from Sonzonate ; 
which is used as the port of Guatimala, from 
which it is fifty-five leagues distant over rough 
and mountainous country. There is however, 
another point known under the name of the Bar 
of Istapa, from which goods might be forwarded 



* Omoa to mouth of River, 3 days. 
Ascent 3 days- 
Leagues. Leagues 
Paiichisqui to Chimaquin, 9 Santa Rosa to Salama, 4 
Chimaquin to Tucuru, 5 Salama to La Vega, 6 
Tucuru to Taltic, 7 La Vega to Lodivoy, 5 
Taltic to Santa Rosa, 5 Lodivoy to Guatimala, 9 

50 



iiiuch more rapidly aiid securely, were proper 
means used for that purpose.* Its importance in 
a commercial point of view, is thus stated by 
Juarros ; he says, " It affords every convenience 
and advantage for carrying on an extensive 
traflic in the Pacitic. Its contiguity to the city 
of Guatimala, would enable speculators to ob- 
tain all the productions of the country at a 
moderate rate, which could be conveyed by land 
carriage to the place of embarkation at a 
triding expense, on a road that was opened and 
levelled in 1539. for the purpose of transporting 
upon carriages some of Alvarado's small vessels. 
There is excellent anchorage well sheltered on 
every point, there are neither reefs nor shallows, 
and the entrance is perfectly safe and easy. A 
redoubt with four or six pieces of cannon would 
afford protection to the shipping; and for the 
construction of such a defence, there are many 
eligible points. With respect to ship building, 
the advantages are of still oreater importance. 



Roulc to .ic<^uila. 




Roitie to Isiapa. 






Leaofue!. 


I 


league 


Guatimala to Los Arcos, 


9 


" Guatimala to Ama.titan, 


6 


Cuajainquilapa. 


6 


San Christoral, 


3 


Pueiite de los Escl?.vos. 


1 


Escuintla, 


ti 


Oratorio. 


3 


Mistan, 


3 


Galpata°:ua, 


6 


Managua, 


1 


Rio de Paz, 


5 


Tp$angaasatJ, 


4 


Ajuacbapa. 


6 


Nanuijo, 


o 


Apaneca, 


ii 


Ovcro, 


4 


Zonzoiiate. 


CI 


Salinas Santa Kosa. 


o 


Acaiatla. 


5 


Raudal. 


r» 



36 



241 

as wood of the best quality is found in the neigh- 
bourhood in quantities inexhaustible. Cordage 
is still more plentiful, for on every part of this 
coast, the pita grows luxuriantly and profusely, 
which is much superior for the manufacture of 
cables and other ropes to the esparto^ (^genista 
hispanica.) Pitch and tar are both good and 
cheap in the valley of Jumais; and freights of 
valuable wood or agricultural produce, may be 
procured here to almost any extent." 

The attention of the government has of late 
been directed to this subject ; the point in ques- 
tion, has been named the port of Independencia; 
and a commission has been appointed to take 
the necessary steps towards fitting it for the recep- 
tion of vessels. It is situated according to Mr. Ha- 
milton Moore, in lat. 14" N. and long. 92° 35' W. 
Like Acajutla, it is only an open road-stead and 
unprotected, the statement of Juarros in this 
respect being erroneous; but the conveniences 
for landing at Raudal, a fishing station on the 
coast, close to the bar of the River Michatoyat, 
are equal if not superior to the former. The ad- 
vantages to be derived from the undertaking, 
arise chiefly from its proximity to the capital, 
and the ease with which goods may be trans- 
ported. Distant only thirty-six leagues, the road 
is for the most part perfectly level, and with the 
exception of a short distance near to Guati- 

31 



242 

mala, goods might be transported in carriages 
with trifling expense, little delay, and less risk 
of robberies. Even by mules, packages could be 
forwarded at the utmost in six days, and at an 
expense of not more than three reales an arroha 
(25 lb.) While by the northern ports, a lapse of 
six weeks and an expenditure of five times that 
sum, would at least be requisite. So great a 
ditierence would abundantly repay the extra 
freight round Cape Horn, and should the project 
be carried into effect, there can be little doubt 
but that the course of a few years will bring 
nearly all the foreign commerce of Guatimala, 
to the ports of the Pacific. 

Nor would the advantage of such a change, be 
confined merely to the trade with the capital. 
Vessels leaving Europe in the month of June, 
and arriving at Independencia about the end of 
November, after leaving part of their cargo at 
this place for Guatimala, might pass forward 
to Libertad and Conchagua ; where goods might 
be landed for the states of San Salvador and 
Leon, and freights of indigo, or of the valuable 
woods of Nicaragua, all of which are on the spot, 
might be taken in before the approach of the 
stormy weather. That by this means, an im- 
mense saving both of labour and money, might be 
eftected is certain, and it is not improbable that 



243 

the experiment will be tried, before many years 
have elapsed. 

One subject of dispute among the contending 
states of Guatimala, is the situation of the capi- 
tal ; the people of San Salvador wishing it re- 
moved to their city, as better suited for the trade 
of the republic. 

Should this change ever take place, and it is 
by no means impossible, although perhaps dis- 
tant, a still greater weight would be given to the 
motives, for encouraging foreign traffic by the 
Pacific, and if to this should be added the culti- 
vation of cocoa, and other fruits near the coast, 
the state of the country would be materially im- 
proved. But before commerce can attain a solid 
basis, other changes equally important are re- 
quired, among which new regulations for the re- 
covery of debts is not one of the least. At the 
present day, no fixed or regular period of pay- 
ment, can be said to exist. Goods are sold it is 
true according to their invoice, with a defined 
period of credit, but if at the expiration of that 
time, the purchaser finds himself unable to fulfil 
his contract, or if from avaricious or dilatory mo- 
tives he does not wish to pay, he asks two, three, 
or more months' additional credit, which is almost 
invariably granted. Should he after various de- 
lays of this kind become involved in debt, and 
the patience of his creditors be completely worn 



■lU. 

out, he is summoned before the Consulado or 
chamber of commerce, and the court takes pos- 
session of his goods. After the usual forms have 
been passed through, notice is given to his cre- 
ditors, and some kind of dividend is then made ; 
but as to its amount in almost every case, 
the creditor finds himself at the mercy of his 
debtor. 

Proceedings so dilatory, preclude that prompt- 
ness and punctuality which is the very soul of 
business. Another impediment to commercial 
prosperity, will be found in that jealousy which 
still exists against the establishment of foreign- 
ers in the republic, a feeling which will only yield 
to a more correct knowledge of their true inter- 
ests. To such an extent is this folly carried, that 
in the month of March 1827, a decree passed the 
legislative assembly almost unanimously, for- 
bidding strangers to sell by retail in the capital, 
a law which if carried into force at the present 
day, would tend to the entire exclusion of every 
foreigner. Strong representations were made on 
the part of the consuls resident in the capital, and 
the decree did not receive the approbation of the 
senate. It was probably smothered by its friends, 
from a conviction that to carry it forward, would 
under existing circumstances be impolitic. The 
proposal however, and the unanimity with which 



245 

it passed the assembly, clearly shows the current 
feeling upon this subject. 

Whether Guatimala will ever attain to any 
very high pitch of prosperity as a nation, is per- 
haps doubtful. Its chief advantage consists in 
the variety of its productions, but on this the 
prosperity of a country never did or can depend. 
The lapse of many years, and the emigration from 
Europe of a more industrious population, would 
seem to be necessary, before its soil can be duly 
cultivated, or its agriculture in any considerable 
degree promoted. 



CHAPTER III. 

NafHral History.— Producfiotis.—Phy^icol Geo- 
srraphy. — Rirers and Lakes, — Diseases, — 
Idiotcy. 

Every part of the United Provinces invites the 
attention of the naturahst to a field, in which 
scarcely any mvestigations have, as yet, been 
made. In the zoological department, may be 
found a species of lion, without mane. — the ti- 
ger, or. rather, the jaguar. — the manati. tapir, 
and wild boar. — the bear, and the wolf — mon- 
keys of every description, from the most diminu- 
tive of all their tribes, to the great baboon, bold 
and powerful enough to combat man. — stags. 
squirrels, and all the domestic animals, besides 
many others, pecuhar to the country, and imde- 
scribed by naturalists. 

Of the ornithology, still less is known : an infi- 
nite variety of the feathered tribe, including, it is 
supposed, near two hundred species, foimd only in 
these parts of the New World, and comprising 



247 

every order and genera, from the unclean and 
heavy-winged vulture, to the fairy little hum- 
ming-bird, delight the eye with their plumage, or 
enliven the woods with their song. In the warmer 
provinces, serpents and reptiles infest every bush, 
and the entomologist, even in his chamber, may 
revel among specimens of every class and genus. 

To attempt anything Hke description of such a 
diversified host, is out of the question. The fero- 
cious animals seldom leave the woods, and lakes, 
which they inhabit, to visit the dwellings of men. 
The birds most distinguished for the beauty of 
their plumage, are met with in the hot and un- 
healthy districts, and, both serpents and insects, 
in these situations, increase in size, number, and 
malignity. 

In the cities, the common carrion-vulture may 
be seen perched upon every house, generally 
bending over the roof with a sensual and melan- 
choly gaze, in search of some dead animal, upon 
which it descends with a heavy flapping motion, 
and immediately picks out the eyes, as the 
choicest morsel ,• after which, it and its fellows 
never leave the body till they have reduced it to 
the most perfect skeleton. These disgusting birds 
perform most faithfully the part of scavengers, 
and, in hot countries, where cleanliness is not re- 
garded, probably contribute considerably toward 
the health of the inhabitants. 



III tlio ovomnii. a sp©cic«i ot' bat. tormod b> 
Hiitlbn. the vivinpvro. or dying ilog. o\ > ow Spam, 
(beoauso it siuks tho bUxxl of nion ami aiumaJ$, 
>vliilo tht\> aro asloop. »ithout causing v^surticionl 
pain to awakon thorn soniotinios enters apart- 
ments uhioh aro oontiguous to orange trees. — 
During my slay m (luatnnala. 1 killed one in my 
own room, and bad the opportunity ot' examining 
the mouth ot' the animal, through a |.KnYert\il ini- 
cn^seojH''. 

BiitVon says* ** I have frequently thouglit it 
worth while to examine, how it is possible that 
these animals, should suek the blood o( a person 
asleep, without eausing at the sanu^ time a [vaiii 
so sensible as to awake him, Were they to cut 
the tiesh with their teeth, or with their claws, the 
pain ot' the bite would elVeetually rouse any ot' 
the human speeies. however soundly as^leep. 
>Vith their tongue only, is it [H>ssible tor them to 
make such minute afn'-rtures in the skin, as to im- 
biln^ the bUxxi through them, and to open the 
v^'ins without causing an acute pain. The tongue 
ot' thevampyre. I have not had an opportunity to 
observe; but that ot' several ronsottos (^a some- 
what ditVerent s|^HH?ie«i. t'ound only in Atriea. and 
the southern parts of Asia.^ which Mr. l>auben- 
ton has attentively examined, seems to indicate 
the possibility of the tact : it is sharp and t'ull of 
prickU>s tiirocted backward, ajui it ap[H\irs that 



thoHo |)ri(:kl(\s ()i- |>(>iiitM, I'roni (lioir oxtujodiii;;' 
miiiiitoiufss triay bo iti.siiiiial;<Ml into tlio porCB ol' 
tlu^ skill, may oMl,-i.ro<' Uutin, and may |>on(;tral() 
tluMii H<» <i<)0|), au U) command a (low of hlood by 
thfi <-<>iiliiiii(^d Slid ion of ih(H,(>n;j;iio. Itiil W()<-an 
only vAmyu.Uiro u\um a. (a<:f, of wliirh all l\u) vav- 
cuinsta,n<;(;s aro im|Mirl'<!<'lly Known to ns, and ol 
wFiioh Homo aro p(ulia[)s <5xa^'<»<^ratod, or orro- 
noously ndatiMl by tli(5 writers wlio liav<i tranw- 
mittcd tli(!rn to us." Of tlio niiK('bi<;voiis |»ro 
portion of thiB u^ly and dorormod animal, thor(^ 
can li<)w<;v<!r bo no doubt. To tfio t<!Hlimony ol' 
M. <]o la </ondamino, ntlorrod to by IVI. IJndoii, 
may b<; addcul tbat of rmrn<;roiis Aiiku icanw, wli(» 
havo Hoon it fixod on tbo nock of miibis, and at- 
tackini^ tbo nostrils of man. 'I'lio r<;asonin^ of 
M. IJollbn, as to tho mode in wbicb it olfocts itH 
piir|>oso, will not bold witb regard to tb<; spocio'H 
found in (iJuatiinalaj Kinc<5 aftor a most careful 
examination, nr> prickles could bo HVA'ti u|)on tlu 
torii^u(;. Ttio tcotb aro remarkably lon^s and 
smootbly pointo(J, and witb tbos(! tbor<; can bo no 
doubt, it opens tho vein, employ inj.^ tbo tongue? 
merely as a sucker. 

The ZorriUa a species of polo cat, HometimoH 
approaches tiie bouses, and emits a smell so fetid, 
as to b(; almost insupportable. 1 hav<! only experi- 
enced the odour from a distance, l)ut Ibund it pow- 
erful enouj^h to sicken the stomach for some hours, 



ami abnnuiviulv to satisty curiosity. The warrior 
ani<. i^iis thoy aro tormtxi") are very nuiiieroiis in 
sonio of tlio provinces. They arc about the size 
of the common ant, rcii and singularly powerful. 
In the order of their movements, and the regu- 
larity of their internal government, they may fair- 
ly be placed in com^xnition with those of Africa, 
and like them they are eminently useful in the 
destruction of other vermin. 

On the shores of the Pacitic the conchologist 
will fmd shells of incomparable beauty, besides 
mnnerous marine substances, sponges, and litho- 
phytes, both curious and l>oautiful : in short eve- 
ry branch of the animal kingdom of Guatimala 
is abundant in objects of interest. 

Xor is the vegetable less productive. Of 
plants remarkable for their flowers or their fruits, 
tor their roots, leaves, shape, or wood, as well as 
those useful for their resin, gum, or medicinal 
properties: perhaps a greater variety camiot be 
found in any part of the world. The mountains 
and plains are covered all the year with the most 
beautiful flowers expanding themselves in wild 
profusion, and " wasting their sweets upon the 
desert air :** forty genera of fruits are reckoned 
to grow spontaneously upon the ditierent hills: 
the most valuable wootis. enormous botii in cir- 
cumference and in height, are lost in the tliick 
forests, aiKl resins and balsams, with innimiera- 



251 . 

ble medicinal herbs, remain neglected and uii- 
known, because no one will take the trouble of 
collecting them. The cedars in some parts, ex- 
ceeding five fathoms in circumference, and lOOleel 
in height ; the mahogany-tree falling little short 
of this immense size ; the valuable Palo de Ma- 
ria^ and the incorruptible Guyacan^ alike sur- 
rounded by immense woods of every other kind 
of timber, reign in silent majesty, undisturbed 
by the sound of the woodman's axe. 

Amidst almost every production both of tropi- 
cal and intertropical climes, may be named 
among grains, maize, producing in some parts 
three hundred fold, and sometimes two or three 
harvests a year, wheat, barley, rice, potatoes, 
greens, and all kinds of culinary vegetables. 

Among fruits may be enumerated three spe- 
cies of plantains, four of apples, five of pine- 
apples, five of peaches, three of apricots, ten of 
jocotes, (a kind of plum) pears, melons, grapes, 
oranges, figs, cherries, pines, besides about forty 
others, of which the name alone would convey 
no idea to an European ear. To these may be 
added, as productions of the country, bark, sar- 
saparilla, cinnamon, hellebore, musk, coffee, gin- 
ger, cassia, tamarinds, aniseed, Brazil wood, in- 
digo, cocoa, cochineal, vanilla, sugar, flax, tobac- 
co, cotton of various species, pepper, sulphur, 



252 

saltpetre, and a multitude of* other articles ; while 
among medicinal plants, probably the greater 
part of the 1200 described by Hernandez, are to 
be met with in some one or other of the United 
Provinces. 

With such an extensive catalogue of produc- 
tions, Guatimala would seem destined to be one 
of the most prosperous and wealthy of republics. 
What important changes may be produced by 
revolving years, it is impossible to foresee, and 
must be left for the pages of its future history to 
relate. At present owing to the indolence and 
ignorance of its population, scarcely any thing is 
produced in considerable quantities, or brought to 
full perfection; and the country although rolhng 
in the midst of natural wealth, remains poor, 
and the mass of its inhabitants wretched. 

Of the physical geography of the country, as 
little can be said as of its natural history. No 
Humboldt has traversed these regions, and ex- 
cepting from the statements of natives often 
strangely inaccurate, no account of the eleva- 
tions of its mountains or valleys, or of its vol- 
canic phenomena can possibly be collected. The 
mountains in some places bordering on the At- 
lantic, in others coasting the Pacific, and again 
in other situations traversing the middle of the 
Isthmus, give their own peculiar character to 



253 

the face of the country. Upon their different 
elevations does the fitness of the soil for its 
various productions depend ; and in crossing them 
the traveller repeatedly changes a hot climate 
for a cold and chilling temperature.* Gold and 
silver, iron, lead, mercury and sulphur are de- 
posited in considerable quantities within the 
bowels of the mountains ; and granite and por- 
phyry form their prevailing geological feature. 

From these rise th€5 various volcanic cones 
which have at different periods by their eruptions, 
desolated the lands contiguous to their craters. 
Besides the three peaked volcan de fiiego — 
situated in the valley of Guatimala, which has 
at various periods injured or overthrown the old 
city, and which still emits smoke and sometimes 
flame ; — seven others may be said to continue 
still in a state of activity. Tajamulco in the 
province of Quezaltenango, Izalco near Sonzo- 
nate, — Momotonsbo and Mazaya in Nicaragua,— 
St. Vincent and San Salvador in the state of the 
same name, frequently cast out flames accom- 
panied by copious discharges of calcined sub- 
stances. 



* Indigo is cultivated at an elevation of from 12 to 1400 feet ; and 
cotton and cocoa flourish about the same height ; the productions of the 
temperate zones, are Jound at an elevation of from 4 to 5,000 feet ; wheat 
is produced upon lands ra-sed from 6 to 9,000 feet above the level of the 
sea ; and pines are found on the tops of the highest volcanoes. 



*2U 

Atitan, situated in one of the interior provinces, 
and near to the lake which bears its name, had 
remained for many years inactive, when, on the 
1st September, 1827, a loud rumbling noise an- 
nounced the working of this stupendous furnace, 
which immediately began to vomit out smoke and 
sand, in such immense quantities, as to darken 
the sky for several hours. Lights were procured 
in the neighbouring villages, and prayers offered, 
till its violence had, in some degree, subsided. 
This eruption was accompanied by an earthquake, 
which was severely felt, not only in the neighbour- 
hood, but at a very considerable distance. 

The rivers of Guatimala, in proportion to its ex- 
tent, are considerably more numerous than those of 
Mexico ; but, excepting for canoes, they are not ge- 
nerally navigable ; not only are they obstructed by 
bars at the entrance, which render it impossible for 
any large vessel to pass, but owing to their steep 
declivity, the currents are so rapid as to render 
it frequently dangerous to descend, and almost 
impracticable to oppose the stream in the ascent. 
The principal are the Lempa, Motagua, Limones, 
Tinto, Platanos, Slave River, Michatoyat, Mos- 
quito, St. Juan, Pantasma, Xicalapa, Paza, 
Leones and Viejo. Of these some fall into the 
Atlantic, and others into the Pacific. The 
Lempa which is by far the largest, and runs 



255 

chiefly through the province of San Salvador, has 
140 yards in breadth at its lowest ebb, and a cur- 
rent exceedingly rapid. 

Besides several small lakes, there are three 
which both for extent and depth deserve more 
particular notice. The Lake of Nicaragua well 
known on account of its proposed junction with l^ 
the Pacific may rank among the largest in the 
world, and if the long wished for communication 
between the two oceans should be effected, w^ill 
become of the utmost importance to the commer- 
cial world. The proposals of different companies 
have been discussed by congress, but no effec- 
tual steps have yet been taken for the accomplish- 
ment of so desirable an object. The lake of Peten 
according to Juarros, has twenty-six leagues of 
circumference, and in some parts is thirty fathoms 
deep ; and Atitan according to the same author, 
covers eight leagues from east to west, and four 
from north to south, has its sides precipitous, in 
depth is fathomless, and although it receives se- 
veral rivers, has no visible outlet by which the 
influx is carried off*. The water is fresh and so 
cold that in a few minutes it benumbs and swells 
the limbs of those who attempt to swim in it. 
Each of these with numerous others, abound in 
fish of different kinds ; many of them have little 
islands in the middle of their waters picturesquely 
wooded, and some of them are inhabited. 



25^ 

On tlie banks of some of tlie rivers as well iis 
on the shores of one or two of the lakes, salt is 
collected in considerable quantities, and forms in 
some o\' the provinces, a considerable branch of 
trade. Salt springs and sulphureous streams, 
both hot and cold, are found in the dilferent pro- 
vinces, and mineral waters, possessing meilical 
properties, exude from the rocks in various parts 
of the country. 

All these things merit the attention of the 
lovers of science, and make one regret that this 
interesting and unknown ground has not yet 
been occupieii by some learned traveller, able to 
favour us with details similar to those we have 
received of the plains and hills oi' Anahmic, from 
the pen of the unwearied Humboldt. 

The diseases of the coasts for the most part 
consist of intermittent fevers, which, when con- 
tracted bv the inhabitants of the temperate re- 
jiions. are very ditbcult to cure, frequently cling- 
ini: to the sutierer till they produce the most per- 
fect mental debility, and ot^entimes idiotcy. The 
number of idiots and of individuals in other stages 
of madne^ is truly melancholy, and of these the 
•greater part have been produced by fevers con- 
iracteii on the coast. In some of the provinces 
the inhabitants are dreadfully atflicted with a 
swelling in the glands of the throat, vulgarl} 
calleii •• ffiiesiiecho :" these sometimes grow to an 



(3iiormous size, and when accoinpanioil by i<Jiot('y 
or extreme irnbeeility of mind, whicli is by no 
means uncommon, thay rurnish a nio.st humilia> 
ting and painful spectacle. These swellingK 
are generally attributed to some dcjleterious qua- 
lity in the water, and are considered by the na- 
tives as incurable. Mr. Coxc in his travels 
through Switzerland, observed the same disease 
to prevail in some districts, and remarks, that 
there also it was not unfrequently accompanied 
by extreme mental weakness. Whatever bo the 
cause, the effect is most distressing; and although 
the United Provinces presented more tejnpta> 
tions to the European than they at present do, 
the thought that the climate, the water, and tho 
diseases most prevalent in the country, all con- 
spire in lowering the tone of the mind, and sap- 
ping the foundations of man's noblest faculty, 
would make the most sanguine pause bfjfore 
choosinsi^ it as a permanent residence' 






CHAPTER IV. 

Aboriginal Population, — Conquests of Alvara- 
do, — Utatlan, — Palaces, SfC. of the King of 
Quiche, — Languages, — Establishment of the 
Roman Religion, — Las Casus and the Domi- 
nicans, — Population, — Employment, — Mode 
of Life and Customs, — Taxes, — Physiogno- 
my, — Bodily Construction, — Mental Capaci- 
ties, — Means of Civilization. 

Whether Guatiinala was originally peopled 
from Mexico, or whether at any remote period of 
its history it was tributary to that power, are 
questions involved in too much obscurity to per- 
mit a positive conclusion. The dim and imper- 
fect records of these semi-civihzed kingdoms leave 
us in perfect ignorance as to the source from 
whence the tribes of which they were composed 
issued, and consequently cannot be expected to 
inform us in detail of the course which the 
stream of population took, or in what instances 
the springs of it might be considered independent 
one of another. 



259 

The invaluable researches of the Baron de 
Humboldt have thrown considerable light on the 
first of these questions. He supposes America 
to have been peopled by the migration of various 
tribes from the eastern parts of Asia, and argues, 
that " in order to conceive that Asiatic tribes 
established on the table land of Chinese Tartary 
should pass from the old to the new continent, it 
is not necessary to have recourse to a transmi- 
gration at very high latitudes. A chain of small 
islands stretches from Corea and Japan to the 
southern cape of the peninsula of Kamschatka, 
between 33*^ and 51" of north latitude. The 
great island of Tchoka, connected with the con- 
tinent by an immense sand bank (under the pa- 
rallel of 52*^) facilitates communication between 
the mouths of the Amour and the Kurile islands. 
Another archipelago by which the great basin of 
Behring is terminated on the south, advances 
from the peninsula of Alaska four hundred leagues 
towards the west. The most western of the Al- 
eutian islands — — — is only 144 leagues distant 
from the eastern coast of Kamschatka ; and this 
distance is also divided into two nearly equal 
parts by the Behring and Mednoi islands, situa- 
ted under latitude 55". Asiatic tribes might 
have gone by means of these islands from one 
continent to the other, without going higher on 
the continent of Asia than the parallel of 55", 



260 

and by a passage of not more than twenty-four 
or thirty-six hours. The north-west winds, which 
during a great part of the year blow in these 
latitudes, favour the navigation from Asia to 
America, between latitudes 50° and 60*^ north."* 

The question of the early independence of 
Guatimala has been defended by Don Domingo 
Juarros with considerable zeal ; and he has 
brought forward various arguments to prove that 
his country never was subjected to the Mexican 
sovereigns, although he acknowledges that a very 
considerable emigration took place from that 
kingdom at a very early period. Leaving this 
unimportant question to be decided by those who 
take more interest in the matter than strangers 
can be expected to feel, we shall try to gather 
from the early chronicles of Guatimala the true 
state of civilization at the period of the con- 
quest. In this inquiry the researches of the wor- 
thy priest above alluded to, will be found highly 
valuable. 

The romantic history of the noble Incas of Pe- 
ru, and the sympathy which, notwithstanding the 
tyrannical character of the man, has been exci- 
ted for the fate of the unhappy Montezuma, has 
thrown a more than common interest about the 
aborigines of the new continent, which makes us 

* Humboldt's Political Essay, vol, ii. p. 343, 



26i 

anxious to know how far the degree of advance- 
ment to which they had arrived, was local or 
universal. In point of civilization the Indians of 
Guatimala do not seem to have been far removed 
from their northern or more southern neighbours 
It appears that while Cortes was pursuing his 
conquests in Mexico, civil war was raging in 
Guatimala between two of the most powerful na- 
tions of the country, the Kachiquels, and the Zu- 
tugils. The fame of his exploits having spread 
far and wide, the king of the Kachiquels sent 
deputies to him, asking his assistance, and offer- 
ing submission to Spain. Cortes immediately 
despatched Pedro Alvarado, with three hundred 
Spaniards, and a large body of Mexican auxilia- 
ries to subdue the kingdom, and render it tributa- 
ry to the Spanish crown. He arrived in the be- 
ginning of the year 1524, and immediately com- 
menced an attack upon the Quiches, the most 
numerous and warhke of the thirty tribes, 
which at this time inhabited the kingdom. These 
different nations like their Mexican countrymen, 
were too jealous of each other, to unite against 
the common enemy, and one by one fell under the 
" heroic Spaniards unrelenting sword." Not- x/ 
withstanding this disunion, the resistance made 
in some parts was very formidable, and if the ac- 
counts of the numbers engaged, be not grossly 
exaggerated, Alvarado and his troops performed 



'2^2 

I'eats, equal to any that marked the ciueer of 
Cortes. AVe are told that the king of the Qui- 
ches, joined by various other states, mustered on 
the plain of Tzaccaha "23*^.000 warriors, who de- 
fended by entrenchments, and surrounded by fos- 
ses, lined with poisoned stakes, were completely 
routed by the comparatively insigniticant force of 
the Spaniards, and in six successive actions were 
defeated with tremendous slaughter. 

The mind sickens, at following the bloody track 
of these remorseless conquerors, and shrinks 
from the contemplation of the multitude of these 
poor wretches, who unaccustomed to the use of 
gunpowder, were penned up as sheep for the 
slaughter, and mown down by thousands. The 
rest of the war consisted only of a repetition of 
similar scenes, and by the middle of the year the 
country might be considered as subdued. 

The account of the city of Utatlan, the capital 
of the Quiche kingdom, quoted by Juarros from 
Fuentes, an ancient historian, would if it may 
be depended upon, lead us to believe that the 
Indians of Guatimala were httle if at all inferior 
to those of Mexico or Peru, 

He describes the city as being " surrounded by 
a deep ravine, that formed a natural fosse, leaving 
only two very narrow roads or entrances to it, 
both of which were so well defended by the castle, 
as to render the city impregnable. The centre 



was occupied by the royal palace, which was sur- 
rounded by the houses of the nobility; the ex- 
tremities were inhabited by the plebeians. The 
streets were very narrow, but the place was so 
populous as to enable the king to draw from it 
alone, no less than 72,000 combatants, to oppos(i 
the Spaniards. It contained many very sumptu- 
ous edifices. The most superb of them was a semi- 
nary, where between five and six thousand child- 
ren were educated ; these were all maintained and 
provided for, at the expense of the royal trea- 
sury, and their instruction was superintended by 
seventy masters, and professors." The grand 
palace surpassed every other edifice, and in the 
opinion of Torquemada, it could compete in 
opulence with that of Montezuma, or of the 
Incas. According to his account, it contained 
distinct apartments and divisions for troops, for 
the king, for the queen and concubines, and for 
the royal family with saloons, baths, gardens and 
menageries, all in a shape of sumptuous magnifi- 
cence. From him we learn that their tradi- 
tions extended during a line of twenty monarchs, 
before the arrival of the Spaniards ; that the 
crown was hereditary ; that a council existed of 
twenty four grandees; that the principal towns 
were governed by lieutenants, and that every of- 
fice was filled by nobles, the greatest care being 
taken to preserve noble blood unsullied ; to pre- 



264 

vent mixture, it was decreed that if any cacique 
or noble, should marry one of plebeian blood, he 
should be degraded for ever, and all his descend- 
ants be rendered incapable of bearing office. 
By the penal laws the king could be tried by his 
nobles. High treason, adultery and rape, were 
punished with death. Murder by being thrown 
from a high rock, robbery by fine, and arson by 
death, because says the law fire has no bounds. 
Sacrilege subjected to death and degradation of 
the family. Prisoners if they confessed, were im- 
mediately sentenced, but if the charge was de- 
nied they were subjected to cruel torture. 

From all these statements, allowing for a cer- 
tain portion of fiction which may have been 
mixed up with facts, it is at least evident that at 
the period of the conquest, the inhabitants were 
far more advanced in the state of moral being, 
than the grade they now occupy. It is equally 
evident from the numbers brought into the field, 
that they must have been far more numerous 
than at present ; since by a census taken by order 
of the king of Spain in 1778, the whole popula- 
tion only amounted to 797,214. 

In the variety of its languages, Guatimala 
presents a still more singular phenomenon than 
Mexico; not less than twenty-five, according to 
Juarros, being still spoken. The exact correct- 
ness of this statement it is difficult to prove; but 



265 

it is certain that a very considerable variety ex- 
ists, differing so widely, that the people of one 
tribe cannot understand those of another. That 
some of the twenty-five are only corrupted dia- 
lects of the same language, there can be little 
doubt, having perhaps as near a resemblance to 
their parent, as some years ago those of Lan- 
cashire and Derbyshire bore to the English 
tongue; but in how many instances this may be 
the case, it is impossible to say. Of the Kachi- 
quel and Quiche, manuscript grammars have been 
prepared by different friars,— but they appear to 
be very imperfect, and without lexicons are use- 
less. The Spaniards have taken considerable 
pains to make Castilian the general medium of 
communication among the Indians, and have 
succeeded to a very considerable extent ; almost 
all of them being able to explain themselves in 
that tongue, although considerably corrupted by 
the mixture of Indian words. 

The whole of the native languages are ex- 
ceedingly guttural in their pronunciation, and in 
their construction are formed by what Humboldt 
terms " aggregation," having no inflexion of the 
root. He says, '^ nothing strikes Europeans more, 
than the excessive length of the words. This 
length does not always depend on their being 
compounded as in the Greek, the German and 
the Sanscrit^ — but on the manner of forming the 

34 



266 

substantive, the plural or the superlative. A kiss 
is called in the Mexican language, Tetennami- 
quiliztli ; a word formed from the verb tennami- 
qui to embrace, and the additive particles te and 
Utzli. The most remarkable example he adds, I 
have met with of a real composition of words, is 
w found in the word amatlacuilolitquitcatlaxtla- 
hiiilli which signifies, the reward given to the 
messenger who carries a paper on which is 
painted tidings. This word which forms by itself 
an Alexandrine line, contains Amatl, paper (of 
the Agave,) cuiloa to paint or trace hierogly- 
phics ; and tlaxtlahuilli, the wages or salary of a 
workman." 

Like the rest of their countrymen, the Indians 
of Guatimala were idolaters, which soon excited 
in the minds of the bigoted Spaniards the same 
chivalric spirit that had distinguished their course 
in Mexico, while fighting for the honour of the 
Virgin Mary, and the extension of the Roman 
apostacy. The Pope and the mass book floated 
along the stream of blood, and superseded idola- 
tries more harmless perhaps than their own, to 
substitute the forms of a worship dazzling to the 
eye, and eminently dangerous, inasmuch as the 
corruptions of truth are infinitely more difiicult 
to eradicate than errors founded on pure igno- 
rance without system or object. Crowds of 
monks followed the track of the conquerors, and 



<'>ft^ 



67 

gradually rivetted the chains which had been 
thrown over the land at the point of the sword. 

No tradition exists which leads to the supposi- 
tion that human victims were ever offered here to 
idols, and the general mildness of the people 
would seem to repel the thought. Philip II. or- 
dered a correct narrative of the habits and pecu- 
liarities of the inhabitants while in a state of ido- 
latry, to be written by the resident priests, but no 
traces now exist of such a work if it ever was 
prepared. 

But while shuddering at the barbarities exer- 
cised under the name of religion, it is pleasant to 
record a noble and enlightened exception. Ac- 
cording to Remesal, Bartholemew Las Casas 
and others of the Dominican order settled in 
Guatimala in the year 1536. "Las Casas who 
was vicar of the convent, had some years before 
written a treatise which he called * De unico vo- 
cationis modo,' in which he attempted to prove, 
and with great erudition, that divine providence 
had instituted the preaching of the gospel as the 
only means of conversion to the christian faith ; 
and that to harass by wars, those whose conver- 
sion is sought for, is the means of preventing 
rather than accomplishing the desired object. 
This reasoning was deemed fallacious and laughed 
at, and the author advised to put in practice what 
he had preached in theory. Las Casas unhesita- 



268 

tingly accepted the proposal, and fixed upon a 
province from which the Spaniards had been three 
times driven back in their attempts to conquer it. 
This region was afterwards called Vera Paz, be- 
cause while the Spaniards were unable to subdue 
it by their arms, it yielded to the mild persuasion 
of a few zealous ecclesiastics. Las Casas previous 
to commencing his undertaking entered into an 
agreement with the governor that no Spaniard 
should reside in the provinces subdued for five 
years. 

This arrangement concluded, the Dominicans 
composed hymns in the language of the natives, 
in which they described the creation of the world, 
the fall of Adam, the redemption of mankind, and 
the principal mysteries of the life, passion and 
death of the Saviour," (Remesal lib. 3. cap. 15, 
18.) " These were learned by some converted 
Indians, who traded with the provinces they 
wished to subdue. The chief cacique of the 
country having heard them sung, asked those 
who had repeated them to explain more in detail 
the meaning of things so new to him. The 
Indians excused themselves on account of their 
inability to perform it correctly, saying they 
could be explained only by the fathers who had 
taught them ; and these were so kind, that if he 
would send for them^ they would gladly come 
and instruct them in every thing. The cacique 



269 

was pleased with the information, and sent one of 
his brothers with many presents to entreat that 
they would come to make him acquainted with 
every thing contained in the songs of the Indian 
merchants. The Fathers received the ambassa- 
dor with great kindness and much satisfaction to 
themselves, and determined that one of their 
number should return with him to the cacique. 
The chief went to the entrance of the village to 
meet the missionary, treated him with great ve- 
neration, and after having been made to compre- 
hend the mysteries of the new faith, he fervently 
adopted it, burnt his idols, and became a preacher 
to his own subjects." 

After this glorious triumph of peaceful persua- 
sion over force and cruelty, the fathers returned 
to Guatimala, and the following year resumed 
their operations with similar results. In numer- 
ous instances they succeeded in collecting the 
Indians into villages, and brought them to form 
themselves into societies, and submit to be 
governed by reasonable laws. 

Impatient of this slow though certain process, 
the Spanish governor despatched troops to the 
neighbouring provinces, and in some instances 
subdued the natives ; but in others the instant the 
troops were withdrawn, the villages were aban- 
doned, and the roads blocked up by the Indians, 



2n 

who concealed themsel,ves in the woods and 
mountains. 

Of the more recent labours of the college, ap- 
pointed for the conversion of infidels (Coll. Prop. 
de Fid.) we have no account. At the present 
day, by far the greater part of the natives are 
under the spiritual dominion of the Romish 
church ; but on the coasts several tribes still re- 
main entirely unsubdued. In many parts of the 
interior also, the Indians have not embraced 
Christianity, and as soon as they are visited in 
one place, to avoid further importunity they re- 
move their wives, children, canoes, &lc. to an- 
other, where they remain until again assaulted by 
similar solicitations. Even among those who 
profess subjection, idols are very often concealed 
and adored in secret, and all the exertions of the 
clergy have been unable to eradicate their affec- 
tion for them. 

Nor is it to be wondered at. With them idol- 
atry, and freedom are synonymous, while Chris- 
tianity is associated only with slavery and 
despotism. Conversion to the catholic faith, 
requires no change of heart j a willingness 
to resign old for new ceremonies, and to sub- 
stitute an image of the Virgin in the room of 
one equally senseless, is all that is asked, and if a 
few prayers can be recited, popery is content to 
leave the superstition of the heart undisturbed, 



271 

and Satan's throne unmolested. But from the con- 
fession of their own bishops even this is with dif- 
ficulty accomphshed. One of them says, "he 
found the neophytes so Httle improved in their 
knowledge of the Christian faith, as scarcely to be 
able to repeat the prayers in an intelligible man- 
ner." Their Latin as might well be expected, 
was difficult to understand, and he says, " the na- 
tives made it half Latin, half romance." 

In the review of these strange proceedings, the 
mind is struck with admiration at the noble and 
dignified conduct of Las Casas and his dominican 
brethren. At a time when persecution was the 
error of the age, they boldly rose above the pre- 
judices of education, and reverting at once to the 
simplest principles of Christianity, preached, and 
practised doctrines which many of their succes- 
sors even in the nineteenth century have yet to 
learn. Nor did they do it without cost. To effect 
their labour of love they endured hardships, suf- 
fering famine, sickness and injuries, and in many 
cases sighing for martyrdom, cheerfully resigned 
themselves to a cruel death. Of such may it not 
be said, that erecting on a good foundation, 
" wood, hay, stubble," w^hen in the day that shall 
be revealed " the fire shall try every man's work 
of what sort it is," though theirs may be burnt and 
the builders suffer loss, yet, " they themselves 
shall be sa^ed : vet so as by fire," 



The absence of all statistical details, renders' 
it impossible to state with any degree of cor- 
rectness, the proportion which the unmixed In- 
dians bear to the coloured or white population. 
It diflers considerably in the ditferent provinces; 
and as no data exists, on which a calculation 
could be founded, conjecture would be idle. Pro- 
bably the proportion will not dilier widely from 
that of 3Iexico, where they form in some pro- 
vinces two-tifths. and in others. three-filHis of the 
whole population. The greater proportion of 
these live in villages, built at\er the Spanish 
manner, with the church in the centre, before it 
the S(]uare. with the cabiltlo or town house, and 
the streets crossing each other at right angles: 
these employ themselves in various ways: some 
grow maize and vegetables for the markets, others 
manufacture mats and baskets, or are employed 
mechanically, while others gain trilling sums as 
porters or carriers in the neighbouring towns. 

A second portion live on haciettdas or farms ,* 
some regularly employed in trnpiches, or in 
agriculture, and others dwelling on the estate by 
permission of the owner, where they cultivate 
a little maize for their own subsistence, and pay 
a species of rent, in produce, for the use of the 
land, besides which they are bound to render 
occasional gratuitous services to the owner. A 
third division inav be said to consist of those who 



are scattered over the Cuce of the country, living 
either in sohtary ranchos or huts, or in lon^ and 
straggUng villages ; those grow sulhcicnt niaiz<; 
for their own use, which with plantains sup|)li(!S 
their necessities, and permits them to remain in 
a state of harbarism altogether secluded from 
society. 

A fourth class answer to the " lazzaroni" ol' 
Italy, sleeping at night under the piazzas of the 
squares, and lounging in idleness and wretched- 
ness a great part of the day ; these also, although 
a considerable body, find occasional employmenf 
as porters, since every white, and almost every 
coloured man, would think himself degraded by 
carrying a burden. The two first classes are 
governed by oflicers chosen from among them- 
selves, who have the power of imprisonment, and 
not unfrequently grossly abuse their trust, by 
making their authority an instrument of oppres- 
sion. The two latter from their roving life, arc 
under no system of government, and unless they 
commit some notorious crime, are unmolested. 

At a first glance, the whole body would seem 
involved in the deepest wretchedness, but this is 
more apparent than real. The only dress of the 
men consists of a cloth round the middle made of 
jnta^* and the women merely wear a light cotton 

* The fibres of a plant, which when twisted into threoJ, rcuembJcs (ha' 
made from hemp, 

35 



274 

dress, from the middle downwards. Their houses 
are destitute of all furniture, excepting it be a 
mat, or at the best a small hammock ; the greater 
part of them sleep on the floor, with the head 
covered and the feet bare, and if they use any 
thing for a pillow, it is seldom better than a brick 
or a stone. Their food, generally maize prepared 
in different ways, and sometimes a little meat, 
seasoned with chile, a kind of pepper, is always 
spread upon the ground, and eaten with their 
hands. The children know no better cradle than 
the ground, and when they are not slung at the 
back of the mother, crawl or run naked about 
the hut or fields. 

Thus ignorant not only of the luxuries, but 
even of what would seem the commonest neces- 
saries of life, they know no wants, and however 
poor and miserable they appear to an European 
eye, having their hut, their maize, and especially 
if to this they can add a little spirits, they consi- 
der themselves abundantly rich. When oppressed 
by the alcalde, they fly to the priest, who hears 
all their grievances, and generally sees them 
redressed. The women suckle their children 
with great care, and rarely trust them with ano- 
ther, carrying them at their backs whenever they 
have occasion to go out. 

It has been remarked, that it is very rare to 
meet with any instance of deformity amongst 



275 

them, and the observation is correct; but whe- 
ther this arises from any favom'able conformation 
of body in the Indian, or whether it may not 
rather be attributed to the fact, that deformed 
children being generally weakly, seldom survive 
without a more tender treatment than savages 
can give, may be somewhat doubtful. The male 
children are chiefly employed in cutting and col- 
lecting wood, and as they grow up become tillers 
of the ground. All the Indians are exceedingly 
fond of bathing, especially in warm springs, in 
which many of them will immerse themselves 
several times a day. Others use what may be 
termed the hot air bath. This is a species of 
large round oven, into which, when heated, they 
creep, and soon obtain a profuse perspiration 
over the whole body; while in this state, they 
suddenly plunge themselves into the nearest cold 
stream, and appear to receive great pleasure 
from the shock, never suffering any injury by 
the practice. 

Their marriages and funerals are conducted 
according to the rites of the Romish church, but 
to these they add various ceremonies of their 
own. A marriage is celebrated by savage dances 
to harsh and inharmonious music; and the fune- 
rals present a scene of nightly revel and drunk- 
enness, somewhat similar to a wake among the 
lower orders of Irish. 



276 

With any kind of procession they are highly 
dehghted. When the holy oil is carried to the 
Tillages, it is preceded by a drum, and escorted 
by a troop of Indians. The feasts of the church 
are observed chiefly by dances, and the discharge 
of sky-rockets, and other fireworks, an amusement 
of which they are passionately fond ; and as the 
manufacture of gunpowder is a government mo- 
nopoly, the practice is of course not discouraged. 

Some instances have occurred, in which In- 
dians have died possessed of considerable pro- 
pertyj; but of late years they have not had oppor- 
tunities for acquiring wealth, and seldom provide 
either for age or sickness. As buyers they are 
cautious, and very much afraid of being deceived,^ 
but as sellers they are exceedingly anxious to 
impose. The men who bring wood, or grass for 
the cattle, invariably ask three times as much as 
they mean to take, and I have seen a quantity of 
charcoal, for which twenty rials was obstinately 
demanded, at length purchased of the same indivi- 
dual for five rials. 

During the Spanish government, a personal 
tax was imposed upon every Indian, of four 
rials ; by the payment of which, they were ex- 
empted from all other imposts, and were not 
liable to serve in the army. At the revolution 
this tax was repealed, and they became subject 
to the duties imposed on the rest of the popula- 



277 

tion. The poor creatures by no means approved 
the change, and for some time brought their 
rials as usual, requesting they might remain un- 
disturbed. Whatever might be the intention of 
the repealers, the pohcy of the measure has cer- 
tainly proved bad. The idle are now exempt 
from the annual tribute, and the more industri- 
ous who bring the produce of their gardens to 
market, are exposed to heavy contributions. Al- 
ways suspicious, they dread every thing that is 
new, and when vaccination was attempted to be 
introduced amongst them, they resisted it most 
determinate ly, flying with their children to the 
woods and mountains. Every effort to persuade 
them it was harmless, was ineffectual ; and the 
attempt was finally abandoned. 

To describe the Indian either physiognomi- 
cally or craniologically, is exceedingly difficult. 
With the exception of the copper coloured skin, 
the smooth and strong black hair, high cheek 
bone, and eye somewhat turned, which may be con- 
sidered universal characteristics, the variations 
are innumerable. The forehead although never 
prominent like that of the negro, and generally 
very retiring, is in many spacious ; and some of 
the women have by no means, what would be 
termed bad ones. The inclination of the facial 
line is widely different in individuals. Thick 
lips although general, can by no means be called 



278 

universal : and while some of the men are alto- 
oether destitute of beard, others have a moder- 
ate proportion, and not unfrequently wear mus- 
tachios. An expression of countenance in which 
cunning and melancholy are singularly blended, 
gives a ujysterious air to every look and move- 
ment. — but no symptom of ferocity is observable. 
The women generally look older than they really 
are, and are uiostly given to volubility. The 
men on the other hand, excepting when under 
the inriuence of intoxication, are very silent, and 
do not show their years on the countenance. 
Some of them attain a very considerable age ,; 
and although the hair with the greater number 
does not change with years, I have seen in- 
stances where it has become nearly white. Their 
limbs are mostly nervous, and their bodily shape 
somewhat square and short. Although incapable 
of violent eti'ort. they possess a toughness which 
enables them to endure fatigues that would soon 
kill the stoutest European. The loads they carry- 
over the mountains for the most trilling remunera- 
tion, are truly surprising. 

But with all this capacity for endurance, the 
want of tire and a manly spirit, often makes 
them appear exceedingly pusillanimous. It is by 
no means uncommon to see them after a quarrel, 
weeping like children over the shghtest wound, — 
while their timidity in any time of public alarm 



279 

is excessive. This characteristic however, will 
not apply to the unsubdued natives on the coast; 
an energy sometimes frightful often distorts their 
features, while the countenance of the interior 
Indian is seldom disturbed by violent passions. 
— This striking diticrcnce, does not ap[)ear to 
have been produced by any alteration in their 
mode of life since the conquest ; it is evident that 
it belonged to them before that period. During 
the war carried on by the Spaniards, in their at- 
tempts to subdue the inhabitants of the coast, 
some instances of resistance occurred truly as- 
tonishing. In one part (after liaving entrenched 
themselves in strong places on a mountain 
which for some time, they defended with the 
greatest bravery) finding resistance hopeless, 
and being exhausted by fatigue, and want 
of provisions, the greatest part of them with 
their wives and children, precipitated them- 
selves from the highest part of the rock, into the 
river below and perished. Nor is this account in- 
credible, since a similar determination has been 
shown by some of the Indians, during the war of 
independence in Chili and Colombia, while act- 
ing as auxiliaries to the Spanish troops. The 
hatred of one tribe was so great towards the 
Patriots, that their extermination was determined 
upon by the independent army, and the whole of 
them, including women and children were put to 



280 

the sword. Their resistance was most desperate, 
and in one instance, when the lance of a soldier had 
passed through the body of the Indian, he still con- 
tinued fighting, and would have killed his opponent 
but for other assistance. Near these dwelt another 
tribe possessing similar feelings, and it was de- 
termined to send them to Peru, in the hope that 
they would make good soldiers, when away from 
their native hills; but from the time they were 
placed on board the transport, they refused to 
eat, and only said they were resolved to die. 
Owing to their repeated mutinies, great numbers 
of them were shot, while others threw themselves 
overboard, and scarcely any arrived at the place 
of their destination. The facts I have on the 
authority of an officer, who was engaged in the 
service and who was an eye witness to the first of 
these dreadful scenes. 

Of the capacities the Indians may possess, for 
the improvement of a superior education, it is 
difficult to speak, because the experiment has not 
been fairly tried. In the convents may be found 
some who have entered as monks or nuns, and 
they display no inferiority to the others. At dif- 
ferent times some who appeared to display talent, 
have been educated at the university, and it is 
said that they proved themselves equal, if not su- 
perior to any by whom they were surrounded, 
and two especially distinguished themselves by 



281 

the quickness of their apprehension, and the soli- 
dity of their judgment, but after a few years all 
these became the victims of intoxication, under 
the influence of which, they quickly relapsed 
into barbarism. 

In the imitative arts they certainly excel, and 
under proper direction, make valuable assistants 
both in plain building, and ornamental architec- 
ture, while the various waxen figures they mould 
and expose for sale, prove how closely they can 
copy any object they may have seen. Of imagi- 
nation they appear to be totally destitute, and 
never leave the beaten track to form any thing 
novel or original, nor have they that taste for the 
beautiful, which the Mexicans so singularly 
possess. 

It is said that ancient monuments, the ruins of 
their former greatness, still exist ; but in situations 
remote from the capital, and at which in the pre- 
sent disturbed state of the country, it is difficult 
to arrive. Juarros gives descriptions of many of 
these from Fuentes, but it is evident that he had 
never seen them. The Spaniards and white 
Creoles, appear to know little or nothing of their 
localities, and insist that a great part of Fuentes' 
descriptions are fictitious. Still the search would 
be interesting, and the report of an intelligent 
traveller valuable ; inasmuch as the slightest ruin 
would in some degree tend to illustrate the true 

1^6 



283 

state of the arts at the time of the conquest, and 
prove how far the customs, and progress in civiU- 
zation of the natives of Guatimala. and those of 
3Iexico, were or were not analagous. 

Interesting however as are these researches, a 
question far more important presents itself in the 
inquiry, what means are best calculated to raise 
the natives from their present depressed state, to 
that rank in society which they ought in justice 
to enjoy ? — The present generation both by their 
degraded habits and utter ignorance, seem irre- 
mediably shut out from any considerable advance- 
ment ; — but no such obstacle need impede the moral 
and intellectual progress of their successors. The 
universal ditiusion of such a system of education 
amongst them, as should insure in their earliest 
years, the instilment of good moral principles ; and 
the immediate removal of the numerous tempta- 
tions to which they are exposed, by the multi- 
plicity of spirit shops, are means simple and prac- 
ticable, and in their effects would prove powerful 
and effectual. Habit, which with regard to man, 
has been forcibly and correctly termed '-the 
skin of the Ethiopian, the spot of the leopard, 
the despot of the soul." becomes fixed and perma- 
nent, before his joints are knit, or his bones fash- 
ioned. It is necessary therefore, to secure its 
formation at the very earliest period : and then 
the very same process, which has hitherto tended 



283 

to draw back those who in after Hfe, have ac- 
quired some degree of civilization, to the wretch- 
ed associations and practices of their younger 
years, would in an equal degree be exerted to 
strengthen the newly formed character, and to 
perpetuate the most valuable of impressions. 
Hitherto no anxiety on this subject, has mani- 

ifested itself on the part of those who are the law- 
ful guardians of this unfortunate race. The tide 
of opposition to any effectual measures, will for 
some time necessarily run strong. In the pros- 
pect of such a result as is anticipated, petty 
tyranny sees its despotism overthrown ; priest- 
craft trembles for its empire ; while the fears and 
prejudices of well meaning individuals depict in 
connexion with it, the spread of a revolutionary 
and insubordinate spirit. But eventually its ac- 
complishment is certain. The demon of darkness 
who has so long held with a firm hand, his empire 

. over the finest portions of the New World, has at 
length received a mortal blow ; every day his 
dying struggles become weaker, and betoken the 
near approach of that final convulsion which will 
end only in the silence and powerlessness of 
death. 



PART !¥• 



JOURNEY FROM THE CAPITAL TO THE SHORES OF 
THE PACIFIC. • - 



CHAPTER I. 

A Party of Pleasure, — Visit to a Grazing 
Farm^ — Views, — Taking of Cattle by the La- 
zo, — Medical Men, — Value of Labour. 

Wednesday was the day fixed for our depart- 
ure. On the previous evening twelve extra horses 
had arrived from a farm about six leagues dis - 
tant, where we proposed to spend two or three 
weeks; and before dayhght the note of prepa- 
ration sounded in our ears. At length we start- 
ed, and a more motley group can scarcely be 
imagined. Chaucer's pilgrims to Canterbury 
could not have displayed a more whimsical vari- 
ety either of dress or character. First led the 
way, a friar of the order of La Merced, dressed 
in the long white flannel gown and little straw 
hat of his order. Then trotted forward a secular 



-2^ 

priest, with black gown and clerical saddle cloth. 
A Spanish gentleman, dressed in the Mexican 
fashion, and three others in cotton printed jackets, 
with high saddles, pistols, and swords, and large 
shaggy skins, hanging down before their knees, 
followed ; immediately preceding a Spanish lady, 
seated on a saddle similar to an old English 
pillion, and an English lady and gentleman, 
in the costume of their own country ; three fe- 
male servants, with black beaver hats, under 
which streamed before the wind, their long hair, 
carefully plaited with pink ribands, succeeded ; 
and Indians with cargo brought up the rear, of 
this heterogeneous company. Let those enjoy the 
pleasure of being whirled along in a close carriage, 
at the rate of fourteen miles an hour, who with Dr. 
Johnson, consider it the height of enjoyment; but 
give me the romantic interest, which belongs to 
an American party, traversing mountainous dis- 
tricts on pacing mules. 

Nor did the characters of the individuals differ 
less widely than their dresses. The friar, who 
had a small case hung round his neck by a black 
riband, declared it contained holy oil, the tears 
of San Ambrosio, and other precious reliques, 
while the lady, who appeared somewhat skepti- 
cal, as positively asserted that he would never 
take the trouble of carrying any thing but bran- 
dy : denials were useless, and with a loud laugh, in 



286 

which his clerical brother heartily joined, he ac- 
knowledged the pious deception, nor seemed 
ashamed of his impudent imposture. 

Leaving on the right the small village of Pi- 
nula, we began to ascend the ridge of mountains 
called Caiiales, composed entirely of granite, and 
lined on each side by wild fruit-trees, bending 
under the weight of their produce. From their 
summit the road becomes elevated, and com- 
mands a fine view of the adjacent country. Wild 
flowers planted on different hillocks along the 
road, at the foot of small crosses, wind around 
the wood, and serve as simple and pious memo- 
rials of those who on these spots have met with 
an untimely death. A few miles further, brought 
us in sight of the gate leading to lands belonging 
to the estate, and in a short time we had arrived 
at the house. At this time it was inhabited only 
by the mayor-domo^ and was in a decayed con- 
dition ; it had been composed of three wings, with 
elevated corridors, but two of these were now in 
a ruinous state ; in the third, which consisted of 
five tolerable apartments, we took up our abode. 
The front corridor was hung round with the long 
wooden bee-hives of the country, and its situation 
afforded a very agreeable prospect of the sur- 
rounding hills. 

The following morning we took a slight view 
of the estate, which extended about twenty 



287 

miles in circumference, consisting of excellent 
land, in the highest state of fertility, well wooded 
and watered, and comprising different elevations. 
The house was surrounded at some distance by 
a steep ravine isolating it on three sides from the 
neighbouring country, along the bed of which 
flowed a small river of excellent water, supplied 
all the year round by three springs, rising within 
one hundred yards of each other : the fields near 
were open, and partook of the character of park 
scenery, and in every direction furnished the 
most agreeable walks. 

Towards the close of the day we had reached 
the summit of a high hill, which commanded a fine 
view of the volcanoes, and the scenery near Ama- 
titan. The sun was just setting with extraordinary 
beauty. The lake lay stretched like a mirror before 
us. The mountains belted by a girdle of. thick 
clouds, exhibited their tops shrouded in mist, which 
partially obscuring the waters, hung hke a gauze 
veil over their surface, and upon the woods which 
covered the hills. In a short time the sun which 
had been concealed while higher in the firmament, 
broke forth behind his mantle of clouds, tinging 
them with a thousand different colors; the lake glis- 
tened as if composed of molten gold,— the moun- 
tains seemed on fire, while the fainter streaks illu- 
minated the distance, as the king of day slowly 
sank behind the hills in indescribable splendour. 



288 

Over these beautiful lands roam about 800 
head of cattle, and 200 horses, generally inferior in 
quality; among them were some fine beasts, but the 
majority were small and bony. This property, in- 
cluding the house and stock, had been lately pur- 
chased for a sum equal to about £6000 sterling. 

During our stay the live stock was collected 
in pairs on diiferent parts of the farm, to be 
marked, the milder ones were driven in flocks, 
and the more obstinate taken by the lazo. The 
latter sight is interesting to a stranger. On 
the day fixed for the taking of the wild cattle the 
requisite number of horses are saddled, and one 
end of the lazo, which consists of a long cord 
made of twisted slips of hide, is firmly bound round 
the tail of each horse, small branches having first 
been wound about it to prevent laceration. The 
rider -then gathers the rest of the cord loosely in 
his hand, taking care that the extremity which is 
formed into a noose is free, and the cord unra- 
velled. Thus prepared he approaches the bull, 
who aware of his object generally starts off at full 
speed, and is as closely pursued ; the animal ac- 
customed to the race, runs and winds with sur- 
prising swiftness and celerity, but unable to com- 
pete with the horse is soon overtaken by his pur- 
suer, who contrives with the greatest dexterity to 
throw the loose end of the Lazo over his horns, 
and the instant he finds it has taken a firm hold 



281) 

wheels round his horse, who with the other end 
fastened to his tail opposes his force to that of the 
bull. The animal finding himself a prisoner, gene- 
rally submits to be dragged at full speed after the 
man, who turns towards the pen ; but if he be very 
powerful or restive, the rider instantly gallops 
round a circle, by which the loose cord is quickly 
wound about the legs of the animal, and he is 
suddenly thrown to the ground. This employ- 
ment often proves a dangerous one. Sometimes 
the bull turns and attacks his pursuer, when 
the greatest agility is requisite to avoid the con- 
tact ; at other times the rider is thrown by the 
violence of the shock which ensues when the ani- 
mal succeeds in bringing the horse upon his 
haunches ; to say nothing of the numerous falls to 
which both are subject, by galloping over unlevel 
and often rocky ground. Notwithstanding these 
dangers, this species of chase is the favourite 
amusement both of horse and man ; the former is 
enlivened by the shouts of the spectators, and the 
latter is urged forward, by a kind of rural ambi- 
tion. A spectator scarcely knows which to ad- 
mire most, — the dexterity of the one, or the docility 
of the other. 

To collect the required number was the work 
of three days, during which the poor creatures 
were imprisoned without any thing to eat or 
drink, and almost suffocated by the clouds of dust 

37 



290 

they raised in their attempts to get out. On the 
third day, the cord was again thrown round the 
horns of each one, and immediately twisted about 
their legs, by which means one after another they 
were forcibly thrown to the ground, and marked 
with a hot iron. The mode of effecting this was 
as clumsy and brutal as can be imagined. The 
same plan was afterwards pursued with the 
horses, although one died upon the spot, from the 
violence with which he was thrown to the ground. 
It was vain to endeavour to persuade them, that 
milder means would effect their object as well. 
Ignorant people are generally obstinate. The 
value of cattle is not great, and with humanity 
they have nothing to do. A fine cow may be 
purchased for a sum equal to about £4 sterling, 
a sheep is worth from 6s, to 7s. The value of a 
horse, depends chiefly upon his having what is 
termed the passo, an easy pace something be- 
tween a swift walk, and a gentle trot. They 
may be bought from £2 to £20; but mules are 
much dearer, a very ordinary one will fetch 
from £6 to £S. 

The other branches of rural economy are great- 
ly neglected ; some butter and cheese is obtained, 
but in small quantities. Honey is more regard- 
ed ; the bee hives similar to those described in a 
former ^chapter were numerous, and contained 
two species of bees, one inanso or tame, which do 



29i 

not sting, and the other possessing that property 
in the same degree, as in Europe. Tlie former 
are the favourites, yet notwithstanding their ge- 
neral character for mildness, we were told that 
at times they fight with such fury, as to make it 
requisite to throw over the hive a cloth dipped 
in some sweet, which attracts their attention, 
and draws them from the conflict. The bees 
that sting, yield a species of honey thinner than 
the others, which will not keep so well. 

During our stay in this house, one of the 
family w^as suddenly taken ill ; and a messenger 
w^s immediately despatched to Guatimala for 
the medical man, who arrived two days afterwards, 
to see his patient nearly recovered. This dilatory 
mode of procedure is universal. In country 
cases, the physician generally comes when the 
patient is either convalescent or buried. The 
individual who made his appearance on this oc- 
casion, was considered the first of his profession ; 
after the usual excuses for delay, he proceeded 
to unpack his little box of drugs, which contained 
purges, tonics and vomits of every description ; 
and taking his patient's pulse, discoursed most 
learnedly, and at considerable length upon the 
nature and cause of the disease, which he al- 
ternately attributed to nerves, vapours and irri- 
tations. For this sapient essay, and sixpence 
worth of drugs, he received 2oz. of gold. He 



•292 

passed the evening with us, and introduced 
Gall and Spurzheim's theory, of which he was 
a zealous disciple ; — new organs were discover- 
ed in new places, and localities given to the 
old ones, widely different from those Dr. Gall 
has chosen for them. But with his employers he 
passed for a most erudite physician, and that was 
sufficient. Quackery is not confined to age or 
country. Were a modest and inteUigent foreigner 
to settle here, he would meet with little en- 
couragement ; prejudices would be strong against 
him, and if he did not talk of nerves and vapours, 
he would get no practice. 

Other kinds of labour are not so well paid. 
The poor barber who travelled the same thirty 
miles every week to shave the beard of our 
worthy host, only received a dollar ; and the 
Indian who traversed the same ground with his 
daily load of provisions, thought himself happy in 
gaining a sum equal to ninepe.nce sterling. So 
widely do professions differ, even when the talents 
of the individuals may be pretty nearly on a par. 

The Indians, who may be considered as serfs 
of the soil, generally perform these coaimissions 
with fidelity. The only risk lies in their en- 
countering spirituous liquors on the way; a 
temptation often too powerful to be resisted. 
This estate contained about two hundred of 
these poor creatures, who at different times had 



293 

obtained from the proprietor, permission to build 
their thatched huts upon the ground, and to 
cultivate the portion he allots to them. For 
this permission, they agree to pay him annually 
a certain portion of maize, to render occasional 
gratuitous services, and to supply eggs or fowls 
to the farm when wanted. If they ke.ep a cow, 
a dollar annually must be paid for its mainte- 
nance. This body is governed by an alcalde, and 
five or six inferior officers elected from among 
themselves, who has power to imj rison, and re- 
ports to the alcalde of the nearest town. By the 
constitution, all the Indians are declared citizens, 
with equal rights and privileges ; but with regard 
to them, this decree is of no effect. Their condi- 
tion remains nearly if not altogether, the same as 
before the revolution. When the proprietor visits 
his estate, he sends for the alcalde and his officers, 
who almost kiss his feet, by the humility of their 
obeisance. He then states the number of fowls, 
eggs, &c. he wishes to have that day, and the 
number of men he requires to assist him, and the 
alcalde's only business is to find them. Probably 
from ten to twenty, will be constantly employed 
on the farm, and these receive three dollars 
monthly, equal to about three shillings steiling a 
week. Under such circumstances it is evident, 
that the comfort of the Indian, depends not so 
much upon any justice he can obtain when op- 



294 

pressed, as upon the mildness and humanity of 
his master. If a robbery be committed, and the 
author remains undiscovered, the proprietor of 
the hacienda orders all whom he has reason to 
suspect of being concerned in it, to leave the es- 
tate, and if the order be not complied with in- 
stantly, sgts fire to the huts and maize of the sus- 
pected, who are then driven out by force. This 
is the general kind of punishment, and there is 
no appeal. 

To each of these haciendas is appended a 
small chapel or Oratorio de la Misa, where a 
priest occasionally performs the Romish service ; 
a bell is rung the previous night, and by an early 
hour on the following morning, a good congrega- 
tion is generally collected. 

The submission of the Indian population to 
their spiritual instructers, knows no bounds. 
Every one who passed the priest, when walking 
with us in the fields bent for his blessing, and re- 
ceived his hand upon their heads, with the deep- 
est humility; the relatives of one poor woman 
whom he visited when sick, actually placed flow- 
ers and branches along the path he had to tread 
to reach her hut, which ceremony he told us, 
was in imitation of Christ's entry into Jerusa- 
lem. From whom but from their pastors, can 
they have received such impious lessons ? This 
man was coarse, vulgar, and stupidly ignorant, 



295 

and delighted in receiving homage, the poor crea- 
tures equally ignorant delighted to pay it. 

The number of Indians constantly kept on dif- 
ferent estates in this kind of servitude, has a 
strong tendency to lower the price of labour, and 
often impedes the introduction of machines, which 
in the end would be highly beneficial to the coun- 
try. At the first glance the fixing of a saw mill, 
upon this estate appeared to us a speculation, 
which certainly would pay. At a very short dis- 
tance from the house was a fine ravine, at the ex- 
tremity of which rose a spring, which in conjunc- 
tion with others formed a powerful stream, having 
a considerable descent. The sides were lined 
with wood, both pine and cedar. The cHmate 
was good,— the distance from the capital was 
short. The requisite machinery might be obtain- 
ed from the United States, at a very trifling ex- 
pense. We named it to the owner. He imme- 
diately said it could not be made to pay. If wood 
were wanted for the capital, two Indians were 
sent to cut a tree, a pair of oxen drew it to its 
destination, and the whole expense was a few 
rials. We found on our return to the capital, the 
force of this argument. Cedar deals twelve feet 
long, could be purchased for two shillings or two 
and sixpence. Fir deals for one shilhng, or one 
and threepence, and beams five inches square for 
a sum equal to about one shilling sterling. Be- 



296 

sides this the consumption was small, and the dis- 
tance from the coast too great to think of expor- 
tation. This circumstance in itself is trifling, 
but it shows how 'easil}^ foreigners may deceive 
themselves, by entering upon speculations, and 
especially by introducing machinery without suf- 
ficiently considering the nature, and peculiar cir- 
cumstances of the country in which they pro- 
pose to make the establishment. 



CHAPTER II. 

Vale of Petapa^ — Lake of Amatitan^ — Falls 

of San Pedro Martyr, — -Escuintla, Salt 

Works, Sfc. 

From this hacienda two of us set out ibr the 
shores of the Pacific, following the course of the 
river Michatoyat, which discharges itself into the 
great ocean at about 14^ north latitude, forming 
what is termed the Bar of Istapa. Passing 
through a long lane, formed chiefly by wild fruit- 
trees, and ending in beautiful meadows, we be- 
gan to descend by a steep and rocky path into 
the valley of Petapa. The way was literally 
choked up with flowers, rising five and six feet 
high. The descent, which afforded us a fine view 
of the luxuriant valley at the foot of the mountain, 
ornamented by old ruins, and bounded by the 
lake on one side and the mountains on the other, 
consisted of windings through this immense bed, 
every instant supplying scenery which truly me- 
rited the term paradisaical. 

Near the foot of the hill we found a tolerable 
frapiche, where we left our horses in order to visit 

38 



298 

the ruins of the old town of Petapa, which was 
swept away by a flood, about the year 1750, oc- 
casioned by the sudden obstruction of the river, 
which flows down the mountain. The only vesti- 
ges now remaining are the ruins of two churches, 
which stand near to each other, and are of consider- 
able size ; one was devoted to the Indian popula- 
tion, the other to the ladinos and whites. Whether 
this separation was occasioned by the permission 
of any mixture of Indian superstition in the wor- 
ship of the aboriginal population, or whether it 
sprung from that proud distinction which these 
strange Christians maintained, even at the foot- 
Stool of God, over their fellow-worms, we know 
not ; in either case it was disgraceful. This spot 
possessed some additional interest in our eyes, as 
having been the curacy of the English friar 
Tomas Gage, before alluded to. The ruins at 
a distance are picturesque, and not uninteresting 
on a close examination. In one of the churches 
a fine cupola, and several small Grecian pillars 
still remain entire. In the other the side cha- 
pels, some of them ornamented by figures half 
obliterated, are still to be seen ; while the body 
of the church now serves as a bed for a few 
orange and lime-trees, and ivy and moss have 
covered the cracked walls. The three small vil- 
lages which now bear the name of Petapa formed 



at the period of the catastrophe a considerable 
town. 

Returning to the trapiche we met with the 
proprietor, who gave us a very hospitable recep- 
tion, and showed us his mill, the great wheel of 
which was turned by a considerable stream de- 
scending from the mountain, and forming two 
small falls, one of about ten feet and the other 
live. On this trapiche he employs about sixteen 
men, who receive, some one shilliilg sterling, and 
others nine pence a day, and are occupied in the 
manufacture of panelas. The process is very 
simple : the cane which grows luxuriantly in the 
valley, is cut and crushed between cylindrical 
rollers; the juice which flows into the vat be- 
neath, is then boiled, and when arrived at a suffi" 
cient degree of consistency, is poured into small 
hollow wooden beds, the size of the panela, where 
it cools, hardens, and forms a solid cake, in which 
state it is sold for the manufacture of chicha and 
agua-dietite. For these lands the proprietor 
paid a rent of 100 dollars annually; he had 
sown the cane and built the hut and mill at a 
very cheap rate, and at the time we visited was 
able to produce 680 pounds daily, which reckon- 
ing 280 days to the year, afforded 190,400 pounds, 
or 7,6ioarrobas, producing at a rial and a half for 
each panela of five pounds weight, a sum equal 
to £1,428 sterling. That the manufacture of 



300 

these coarse panelas is more profitable in the 
present circumstances of the country, than that 
of sugars there can be no doubt, and this ac- 
counts for the multitude of these trapiches which 
are spread over the face of the country. But it is 
melancholy to remember that money thus ac- 
quired is gained at the expense of the whole com- 
munity ;— numerous trapiches cause a similar 
increase in spirit-shops, and by the multiplicity 
of these, it is evident that useful agriculture is 
impeded, the population demoralized, and the 
aborigines destroyed. 

In this vale the thermometer at 12 o'clock 
stood at 75^ Fahrenheit, in the shade ; a rise 
of 7*^ having taken place in a distance which 
could not exceed six miles in a straight line. At 
the farm we had just left, it had stood at about 
68** at the same hour during the whole of our 
stay. Leaving this part of the valley, we soon 
arrived at the village of S. Miguel de Petapa, 
which is regularly built, with a neat church, and 
a spacious plaza : from hence, after passing a to- 
lerably good hacienda, we reached the summit of 
a ravine, at the foot of which lay the Lake of 
Amatitan. The sight of this fine sheet of water, 
three leagues in length, and about a league broad 
at the widest part, is rendered still more interest- 
ing by the nature of its environs; on one side 
rise abrupt and bold rocks to a height of about 



301 

eight hundred feet ; on another, sloping hills, co- 
vered with verdure ; while on a third side, cochi- 
neal plantations are cultivated to the shores, and 
backed by the town, bearing the same name as 
the lake. A few wild fowl skim over the surface 
of the waters, and moharra, pescadillo, and cray- 
fish are found within its bosom; the depth has 
never been ascertained correctly ; its banks gra- 
dually shelve till they approach the middle, when 
they become precipitous and very deep. 

At the lake commences the Michatoyat, which 
increasing as it flows towards the Pacific, forms 
a considerable river. The town which bears the 
name of San Juan Amatitan, is of considerable 
size; the streets are regularly arranged at right 
angles, and the houses generally well built. It 
has a good church, and like most others its 
celebrated image. The inhabitants chiefly em- 
ploy themselves in raising fruits and vegetables 
for the capital, — in fishing in the lake, or in the 
manufacture of a species of mat. Close to the 
town is a warm spring, and in the woods at a 
short distance, are others possessed of mineral 
and sulphureous properties. 

From hence to San Christoval de Amatitan, 
a distance of about three leagues, the road turns 
through beautiful lanes, and is perfectly level. 
Immense forests cover the mountains on each 
side, and the only sign of habitation, is a valuable 



802 

farm belonging to the dominican friars, and two 
trapiches. 

On our arrival at the town, which chiefly con- 
sists of one long street wretchedly paved, we 
proceeded to the cabildo or town house, which in 
the absence of inns, is generally appropriated to 
travellers. This one might be justly termed a 
huge shed roughly divided into three parts ; one 
extremity formed the prison, and the other the 
residence of an Indian, — in the middle depart- 
ment, which was three parts filled with logs of 
wood, we swung our hammocks and took up our 
residence. Soon after, we visited the cura, with 
whom we spent a great part of the evening. He 
seemed a well read, intelligent man, and possessed 
a very good miscellaneous library. Juarros, the 
historian of Guatimala, speaking of this town, 
says, that in the neighbourhood is found the green 
chapuli, a large species of grasshopper about a 
span long ; at the extremity of its tail, is a sharp 
curved point like a thorn, which becomes hard 
when the animal has attained its full growth. 
" If killed in this state, and carefully opened, a 
small bunch of seeds similar to those of the 
passion flower about an inch long, attached to 
ramifying fibres, is found in the intestines. These 
grains being sown will produce a plant like the 
gourd, which will bear a fruit resembling small 
pompions as yellow and brilliant as gold; the 



303 

seeds of which sown again will bring forth similar 
fruit, but of much larger size." Such is the ac- 
count given of the chapuli, which certainly looks 
apocryphal. We inquired of the cura if the 
story had any foundation ; his reply was, " I have 
cut the seed from the body of the animal, placed 
them in water, viewed them through a powerful 
microscope, when they had every appearance of 
seed. I have sown them in a flower pot, and 
they have produced a tree about a foot high, 
having a pointed leaf, and at the bottom of the 
stem a white powder, but neither flower nor fruit 
could I obtain." Such is the history of this 
wonderful insect ; the animal is only found in 
the months of October and November, conse- 
quently we had no further opportunity of verify- 
ing the story. The cura assured us the animal 
could not have swallowed the seeds, as they 
formed a constituent part of the intestines. 

The following morning we set out for Escuintla; 
the road although rugged, is tolerably level, and 
the neighbouring woods are said to abound with 
vainilla (the epidendrum of LinnsBus,) and the 
cinchona officinalis, the bark of which is known 
by the name of Jesuits powder, or peruvian bark. 
About two leagues from San Christova! we heard* 
a considerable noise, as if produced by the falling 
of water, and turning through the woods to the 
left we suddenly came upon the river Michatoyat 



304 

which here forms most beautiful rapids ; immense 
pieces of rock seem by the giant hand of nature 
to have been cast in the most fantastic forms, 
over which a very large body of water passes 
with a tremendous current, forming in the space 
of about 200 yards, twelve to fifteen falls, varying 
in depth and direction. 

A little beyond this is the village of San Pedro 
Martyr, a collection of miserable huts. We tied 
our horses to a tree, and entered the estanco or 
spirit shop to get some refreshment, but a scene 
of misery presented itself too great to be endured. 
In the middle of the hut was a large fire, on which 
was boiling a cauldron of fermented sugar. The 
heat at this time was 85*^ in the shade ; — three or 
four dirty children were sitting on the ground, 
and two women nearly naked, stretched on a mat, 
were singing, or rather howling in an advanced 
state of madness. Leaving this wretched group, 
we sought shelter under an orange tree, at a little 
distance, and having procured a guide set out for 
wiiat is termed here the great fall of San Pedro 
Martyr. .' 

Penetrating through the woods for about a 
league, and passing a smaller fall, we arrived at 
the great cataract, which in fact consists of three, 
the river being divided at the summit by granitic 
stones, and in a great measure concealed by 
hanging bushes ; over this rock a powerful body 



305 

of water is precipitated from a height of from fifty 
to seventy feet ; several smaller streams throw 
themselves down different parts of the mountain, 
and glistening through the surrounding foliage, 
present a prospect highly enchanting, yet partak- 
ing rather of the character of the romantic than 
the sublime. 

Leaving this spot through fields of the sugar 
cane, and fording three rivers, the latter of which 
was deep and had a rapid current, we entered the 
woods that lead to Escuintla; for about eight 
miles the road is tracked, through a thick forest 
of timber. In some places the hanana or plan- 
tain tree, {Musa Sapieiitum,) grows to a very 
considerable height, and spreads itself in the 
wildest abundance, while in others thick bushes of 
convolvuluses and dahlias, rising from six to four- 
teen feet, bent across the path, and obscured 
every other object from the view. These woods 
are singularly rich, both in animal and vegetable 
productions; the most beautiful birds inhabit the 
thickest parts of the forest, and the cotton tree, 
the indigo plant, and the palma christi, grow 
wild among the bushes, the former we observed 
in flower as we passed along. 

The situation of the town called La Concep- 
tion Escuintla, is by no means unpleasing ; in the 
vicinity are numerous agreeable walks ; and a fine 
river which flows close to the town, affords coii- 

39 



306 

venience [for bathing. Near the plaza are a few 
good houses, and a very handsome church, at 
this time however in ruins ; the earthquake which 
had then taken place about three months, had 
opened the wails and thrown down the cupola, 
and the vestry was now alone used for the pur- 
poses of worship. From the summit of this 
building, a remarkably interesting prospect pre- 
sented itself on the evening we ascended. On the 
east and north-east, the dark foliage of the thick 
woods covering a considerable tract of country, 
and varied only by the curling smoke of a few 
scattered huts, were backed by a fine ridge 
of mountains covered with wood, and terminated 
by volcanic cones, whose tops were enveloped in 
thick clouds ; while on the west and south-west 
the setting sun illuminated the fertile flat coun- 
try, as he bathed his beams in the great Pacific, 
whose waters formed the last ridge on the western 
horizon. The climate of Escuintla is very 
warm, the thermometer stood at 88** a difference 
of twenty degrees having taken place during 
a ride of about fourteen leagues ; and if consi- 
dered in a straight line, a distance of not more 
than half that number. 

From Escuintla the following morning we set 
out for a Trapiche, about three leagues on the 
road towards the coast, which from hence becomes 
perfectly level, and as beautiful as can be de- 



307 

sired; on this part of it some rice was cultivated. 
The entrance to this establishment, was through 
an alcove formed by palms, cocoa^ cypress, 
orange and other fruit trees, and the grounds 
near, were laid out in a much better style than 
any we had yet seen. The wheels of the ma- 
chinery were lighter, and on the best principle, 
and the whole clean and in good order, but 
nothing was manufactured except repardura or 
panela. 

About three leagues further we arrived at the 
village of Mistan, which consists of a few huts, 
and after another league reached Masagua, a 
small village built in a circle cut out of the wood ; 
it like the rest has its decayed church and boasts 
its miraculous image. The whole of this road 
lies through thick forests, across which a narrow 
path has been trodden ; on every side are gigantic 
trees some of them measuring from thirty to 
thirty -five feet in circumference, and towering to 
an elevation of from eighty to ninety feet ; around 
the trunk of each of these winds some creeper to 
the height of forty and fifty feet, — these delicate 
plants wreathing themselves around the sturdy 
sons of the forest, give to the woods of America a 
charm peculiarly their own. 

From hence to Ipsanguasati a solitary hacienda, 
to Naranjo a similar one, and to Overo a still 
worse, a distance of about 10 leagues, the road 



308 

bears precisely the same characteristics. At 
the latter place we arrived towards the evening, 
and a more inhospitable reception it would have 
been impossible to have received ; the only place 
in which we were permitted to pass the night, was 
under a shed, compared with which the most mis- 
erable European cow hovel would have been a 
palace^ nothing could be had for money, and hun- 
gry and fatigued, we stretched ourselves to pass 
a restless and a sleepless night. The whole 
atmosphere seemed alive, the air was loaded with 
sand flies, mosquitoes and every other kind of 
the innumerable kinds of insects, which with all 
their tribes, are the torment of travellers in hot 
countries. At length day broke and we proceeded 
to the Salinas or salt works, which are situated on 
the shores of the ocean, and consist of three vil- 
lages about a mile distant from each other called 
Manglar, Santa Rosa, and Sapoti, at the latter we 
arrived by an early hour. These salinas are in a 
miserable condition, and consist merely of a few 
huts, under which are coarse wooden vessels half 
filled with earth; upon this the salt water is 
poured, it oozes into a vessel below, and is then 
boiled in earthen vats, till it assumes a consis- 
tency, is dried in the sun, and offered for sale 
without undergoing any farther process. 



CHAPTER III. 

Bar of Istapa, — Fisheries, — Vampyres, — RocJc 
of Mirandilla, — Alotenango, — Almolonga, — 
The two Volcanoes, — Ascent of the Volcan 
del Agua, SfC, 

From Sapoti to Santa Rosa, and from Santa 
Rosa to Raudal, a distance of about two and a 
half leagues, the road is level, but obstructed by 
immense quantities of bushes and low shrubs. 
The latter place, only a fisherman's hut, is situa- 
ted about a league from the mouth of the Micha- 
toyat, which forms a bar at some short distance. 
There is no other mode of going thither than in 
miserable canoes, which are polled along the es- 
teros, or inlets of the ocean, the banks of which 
are lined with mangroves. Near the mouth of 
the river there are a couple of huts, inhabited by 
fishermen, who there pack and salt fish for the 
capital, of which a considerable quantity is dried 
and sent up. The population of these places 
consists chiefly of mulattoes and negroes, with a 
few Indians; they have a small church, but as 
the climate is not considered good, no priest will 
live amongst them. The average heat in the 



310 

middle of the day is from 88*^ to 90". The num- 
ber of insects is considerable ; some of the men 
were horribly disfigured by the bites they had 
received. The shore is bold and steep, but the 
high surf which here rolls itself majestically in 
a long heavy wave towards the land, frequently 
dashes over its boundaries, and lightly inundates 
the neighbouring soil ; near the bar of the Mi- 
chatoyat it is however lessened, and large sailing 
boats might come up the river generally without 
danger. 

This spot is celebrated as being the place where 
Pedro Alvarado equipped his armaments in the 
years 1534 and 1539. Of the advantages which 
it possesses over Sonzonate as the port of Guati- 
mala, notice has been taken at length in the 
chapter on the trade and commerce of the repub- 
lic. In its present state three or four hundred 
adventurers landing on its banks, might in three 
days enter the capital without encountering an 
enemy ; and if determined, would be more than 
sufficient to subdue the troops appointed for the 
defence of the city. It has been said this bar is 
formed by the river Guacalate, but this an error ; 
the Guacalate flows near the Michatoyat, but 
does not join it. Attempts have been made to 
cut a canal that should unite the two rivers, by 
which it was supposed the body of water would 
be sufficientlv increased to remove the bar ; this 



311 

plan however has not yet been carried into eftect, 
and it is very doubtful whether the benefit would 
be sufficiently great to repay the labour. 

At Sapoti we slept under a somewhat better 
shed, though still greatly annoyed by the multi- 
tude of flies, and chilled by the heavy dews which 
fall near the shore. The following day w^e re- 
turned to Naranjo, where we again passed the 
night in the open air, drenched by the dews, and 
tormented by an additional enemy, the vampyre ; 
these animals a few days before our arrival, had 
killed no less than thirty fowls, belonging to the 
farm. As we had passed through this place two 
days before, they had told us that one of the peo- 
ple was somewhat unwell with fever, and inquired 
if brandy were a good thing for him. We of 
course warned them against it, and recommend- 
ed a purgative plant which grows in the neigh- 
bourhood ; but they persisted in their own reme- 
dy, and thirty-six hours afterwards the man was 
dead and buried. 

Returning to Mistan through the woods, we 
noticed a few deer, the guacamaya or great ma- 
caw, and several wild peacocks ; these birds on 
the wing display their splendid plumage to great 
advantage. Vultures here as in every other part 
of the republic, are abundant ; the body of a calf 
which had just died on the road, was literally 
covered with them, struggling in crowds for ii 



312 

footing upon the carcase. The voraciousness of 
these filthy birds is almost incredible, and the 
exactness and rapidity with which they reduce 
bodies to the most perfect skeletons, cannot be 
surpassed by the most acute anatomist. 

At Mistan we turned from our former route, and 
crossing the river Guacalate, began to ascend in 
the direction for the Pena de Mirandilla, The 
road we found generally woody, and the path so 
covered with bushes and shrubs, as to be in some 
places almost impassable ; the river in this direc- 
tion has rapids for nearly a league, and several 
streams casting themselves down the sides of the 
mountains, form small cascades of considerable 
beauty. The Pena or Rock of Mirandilla is a 
bold projection of granite, which rears its head 
considerably above the neighbouring mountains, 
and appears to have been struck by lightning ; the 
middle part has evidently been swept away by the 
electric fluid, leaving two bare ridges, which from 
their elevated and solitary situation, present a 
somewhat singular aspect. At the foot of the 
mountain is a ruinous trapiche, where we passed 
the night ; the roof had partly fallen in, and some 
of the w^alls been opened by the recent earth- 
quake. Between Mistan and the Pena, a dis- 
tance of not more than eight or nine leagues, we 
found a difierence of temperature equal to ten 
degrees. 



313 

From this unfrequented spot we turned towards 
\he Antigua, passing between the two celebrated 
volcanoes. In this situation the mountains ex- 
hibit themselves in aspects singularly interest- 
ing ; the one towering to a height of above fourteen 
thousand feet, presents a rich and diversified soil, 
clothed with verdure to the very summit, and 
girded by a belt of thick forests, — the other 
rising to an elevation equal if not superior, exhi- 
bits its three bare and rugged peaks, covered with 
dried lava and ashes, still trembhng under the 
working of the mighty furnace within, and breath- 
ing out a column of pale blue smoke, which per- 
petually ascends from its crater. The contrast is 
striking, — the horrible and the beautiful in nature, 
are not often to be met with so closely united, 
or linked together as these are by the junc- 
tion of their bases. The greater part of the 
road between the two, bears evident marks of the 
violent shocks to which it has been subject ; im- 
mense chasms formed by the opening of the hills, 
still remain in the rude state in which nature left 
them, when she convulsively tore them asunder ; 
huge stones seem to have been hurled in every 
direction, and lay in the wildest confusion ; 
while in some parts the deep bed of ashes, and 
cinders, and scorified lava, which at different 
times have been vomited forth, produce an ap- 
pearance of desolation, strangely opposed to other 

40 



314 

parts closely contiguous. In these latter, the vol- 
canic substances which only lightly strewed the 
ground, have been covered by a new strata of 
decomposed vegetable matter, over which trees, 
and shrubs have spread themselves, and aromatic 
plants now shed forth their fragrance. 

By noon we arrived at the village of San Juan 
Alotenango, situated at the foot of the mountains. 
It now consists only of a few Indian huts, the 
town was ruined by the great earthquake of San 
Pedro Martyr, and the church and convent had 
been lately destroyed by fire. The curate of this 
place informed us, that he had attempted with a 
friend to ascend the Volcan de Fuego, but that 
after arriving at the middle of the mountain, the 
ascent became so precipitous, and the trembling 
of the mountain so excessive, that they were 
obliged to relinquish their purpose. The last 
eruption of this volcano took place about two 
years ago, when flames issued from the crater, 
and ascended to a considerable height, immense 
quantities of stones and ashes were cast out 
towards the west, and the race of monkeys who 
inhabit the neighbouring w^oods, almost extir- 
pated. 

From this village we proceeded to Almolonga 
or Ciudad Vieja, celebrated for being the spot 
where Alvarado first pitched his tent, to form a 
capital. The fate of this city has been before re- 



315 

Jated; fourteen years after its fbumlation a dread- 
ful eruption of the volcano, accompanied by an 
immense torrent of water, overwhelmed its build- 
ings, and swallowed up a great part of the in- 
habitants. It is now composed only of Indian 
huts, and chiefly cultivated for cochineal gardens. 
In all kinds of agriculture the lands are still 
turned up by the hoe, and oxen draw by the 
horns. Horses are very rarely to be seen in 
harness. 

From Almolonga we came to the Antigua, 
where we spent a few days, one of which was de- 
voted to the ascent of the Volcan de Agua* 
(water volcano.) 

This beautiful and gigantic mountain is in 
figure a perfect cone, its base is computed to have 
eighteen leagues of circumference, and its height 
to be 14,500 feet. The ascent by the road is cal- 
culated at from three to four leagues, and its cra- 
ter measures one hundred and forty yards, by 
one hundred and twenty. 

Leaving the old city a little before day light, 
we soon arrived at the convent of San Juan 
Obispo, which stands upon its base, surrounded 
by a few huts, and almost buried in bushes and 
flowers. From this point the ascent begins, and 
from hence to the small town of Santa Maria is 

* That this is an extinct volcano there can be little doubt, although no 
tradition exists of fire havinsr ever issued from its bowels. 



316 

gradual, and can be accomplished on a mule. 
In the whole of this region wheat might be ad- 
vantageously cultivated, the soil is good and in 
some parts luxuriant. A variety of plants grow 
wild, among the shrubs which spread themselves 
on every side. Among the rest we found the tea 
plant. 

Santa Maria which is situated at an ele- 
vation of about 7,500 feet, is a considerable 
Indian village, and contains a population of 
three or four thousand, who chiefly find employ- 
ment in the old city. In the colder months, many 
of them are occupied in carrying snow from the 
mountain, for the supply both of the Antigua and 
the capital. Here we procured guides, and set 
forward on foot ; the ascent we found steep and 
painful, the path which was slippery with the 
dew, affording us a very uncertain footing. 
From the village, to the height of about nine 
thousand feet, only a few scattered pines, two or 
three cherry trees, and some wild apples diversify 
the scene. Soon after this we enter the middle 
region of forests, consisting almost entirely of 
American oaks ; the soil here was composed of an 
exceedingly rich black loam, the wild cane we 
found growing to an amazing height and thick- 
ness. The hand plant {arhol de las manitas^ or 
cJieirostemon platanoides, growing to a height of 
40 feet, with its corolla glistening in scarlet and 



317 

gold, and many others were flourishing luxuri- 
antly. A little beyond these, the keen cold air 
sweeps over the sides of the mountain unshielded 
by forests, and as we gradually ascend in the 
scale of vegetation, pines again present them- 
selves almost devoid of foliage, and highly resin- 
ous. These continue till we reach the summit, 
and spread themselves on the margin of the cra- 
ter, among the rocks and stones, which are scat- 
tered around them. 

By about 2 o'clock we had arrived at the top 
very much exhausted ; the clouds which had 
gathered during the ascent, now formed a thick 
veil around the mountain considerably below us, 
through which it was impossible to pierce, and 
we were thus in great measure disappointed of 
the view we had expected to enjoy of the sur- 
rounding country. The spacious crater is com- 
pletely concave, and produces a powerful echo, 
great numbers of huge stones, covered with 
moss and grass, are scattered over its surface, 
which is sterile and unproductive. The ther- 
mometer at 2 o'clock, P. M. stood at 42^ 
the difference between the base and the sum- 
mit at the same hour being about thirty de- 
grees. 

About 3 o'clock we commenced the descent, 
which although more rapid was not much 
less painful than the ascent ; the steep slippery 



318 

path, kept us almost continually on a run, except 
when interrupted by falls, from which our guides 
although possessing the advantage of bare feet, 
were not exempt. As we descended the clouds 
partially cleared off, and we enjoyed the prospect 
of the different towns and villages, varying in ele- 
vation, which are spread at the foot of the moun- 
tain. On a favorable day the view from the summit 
is one of the most extensive that can possibly be en- 
joyed, being bounded both on the north and south, 
by the two oceans, while eastward the province of 
San Salvador, and westward the plains of Chiapa 
may be discovered. By five o'clock we had again 
arrived at the Antigua, completely worn out by- 
fatigue, and although gratified by the excursion, 
feeling no anxiety to make a second trip. The 
following day we bent our course homeward, and 
arrived safely at the capital. 



THE END. 



ERRATA. 

A considerable portion of the present Volume has been printed from 
manuscripts hastily thrown together, in consequence of which some errors 
have escaped observation. 

The quotation from the Journal at Page 136 in which Louisiana and 
Georgia are referred to, was not intended for insertion. The reference to 
those statcB, the author is now aware was altogether erroneous. In the 
early part of the Volume, the mark denoting seconds (") has been affixed 
to those figures which represent minutes (') ; these errors will not how- 
ever be found to have occurred after page 184. 

Page 2^9 for Dr. Rhy, read Dr. Rhys. 



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